The Punjab School Education Department has admitted that no regulatory system exists to determine or oversee the fees charged by private schools across the province.
The disclosure was made during a session of the Punjab Assembly Standing Committee on School Education, where officials confirmed that the department has no authority to fix or regulate the fee structure of private educational institutions.
According to the department, its powers are limited strictly to controlling the annual increase in fees. Under existing rules, private schools cannot raise their fees by more than four to five percent each year, though no framework governs how the base fee amount is determined in the first place.
The committee chairman noted that during a previous meeting, the department had presented a differing position, stating that its authority was confined solely to regulating fee increases rather than fee determination itself.
A committee member questioned why the department, despite holding registration powers over schools, takes no action against institutions that violate the rules.
The member argued that unchecked registration authority allows schools to operate without proper oversight, and that a department empowered to grant permission for opening a school should equally be empowered to enforce checks and balances.
The committee member further pointed out that private schools charge fees running into thousands and lakhs of rupees, effectively excluding children from low-income families from admission. The member called on the department to cancel the registration of schools that fail to comply with regulatory requirements.
