The Bengal government will table a bill to regulate private schools and their tendency to hike fees disregarding people’s financial constraints, education minister Bratya Basu said in the Assembly on Tuesday.

The minister drew a parallel with the state government’s attempts to rein in private hospitals by setting up a commission that looks into patients’ complaints about steep bill amounts and neglect.

“The education department has received complaints about exorbitant fees charged by private schools and their poor infrastructure,” the minister said on the floor of the House.

Basu said: “We want to bring a bill to address the complaints.”

Speaking to reporters outside, Basu said: “Fee hikes in private schools create financial difficulties for many middle-class parents who allocate a budget for their children’s education at the beginning of the month. A sudden school notice to hike the fee creates financial problems for them. The bill will also look into other things like corporal punishment or inadequate infrastructure in schools.”

Here, he spoke about private healthcare facilities.

“After the chief minister’s intervention, the problems of exorbitant billing by private nursing homes, whimsical admissions and nepotism prioritising affluent patients over those from the fringes have been resolved. We now see a less discriminatory approach at private nursing homes, something that we want to introduce in private schools too,” Basu said.

The minister acknowledged the “excellence” of some of the private schools and their academic standards. “Students from ICSE and CBSE schools are excellent. They do well in life. But we feel there should be some parity between private and government schools,” Basu told reporters.

In August 2023, the state cabinet had approved a plan to set up a commission like the one to regulate private hospitals. The proposal was to have a commission headed by a retired high court judge appointed by the state government. A bill to that effect did not reach the Assembly.

A senior education department official on Tuesday said the government was mulling a graded system instead of putting all schools in one bracket.

“The commission will be entrusted with the responsibility of fixing the fee structures for the different categories of private schools based on the schools’ expenses and infrastructure,” the official said.

“The commission could seek expenditure statements dating back three to five years and infrastructure details from schools in each category. Then, a benchmark will be drawn. The fee structure of a school in the heart of Calcutta and that of a school in a district will have to be different,” the official said.

Several school principals welcomed the move but only if the categories were “fair”.

“A school with excellent sports facilities and air-conditioned classrooms cannot be considered on a par with one that does not provide these facilities. There is a huge gap among private schools that the education department should consider after a thorough survey,” said Satabdi Bhattacharjee, the principal of South City International School.

Seema Sapru, the principal of The Heritage School, said the categorisation should consider various factors like a school’s area, the number of students in a classroom, exposure given to a student and infrastructure, which includes those for students with special needs.

“A control on profiteering is okay but the government should also try to improve the standard of government schools,” said Brigadier (retd) V.N. Chaturvedi, secretary-general of the Vidya Mandir Society, which runs Birla High School, Sushila Birla Girls’ School and Birla High School Mukundapur.

The education department official said discussions were underway on whether minority educational institutions should be included in the bill’s ambit.

“The bill is under the consideration of the chief minister. We will bring the bill in consultation with the chief minister. We hope the Assembly will pass the bill. When the bill will come into force depends on when the governor will sign the bill,” the minister said.

While the state clinical establishment regulatory commission looks into complaints of aggrieved patients and often slaps penalties on errant private hospitals, many patients allege that it has failed to rein in treatment costs.

The urge to regulate private schools is not new. Mamata had told the Assembly on March 3, 2017: “Now, I think there is a need to do something to control private schools. There are some private schools that are very good. But some of them charge so much in fees and donations. I think this needs to stop.”