India, Aug. 4 -- Delhi's draft legislation to regulate fees charged by private unaided schools is a recognition of some realities of the school education landscape in the national capital. First, given private unaided schools' share of student strength (almost 40%, as per UDISE+ data), they are a critical pillar of school education in the national capital territory (NCT). So, some degree of oversight is needed. Second, grievances around fee-setting and hikes have found groundswell over the past few years, making policy intervention by the government necessary. Claims of arbitrariness in these decisions came against the backdrop of 15-18% annual hikes announced by some schools charging six-figure fees. Defined metrics for deciding fees, along with a rulebook on compliance and penalty - as prescribed by the Bill - could help address the issue. And third, there was a need for parent participation in fee decisions so that the concerns of this stakeholder group don't go unheard and unheeded. The Bill provides for parents' representation in the fee committees - in the first two tiers of a three-tiered system. The proposed regime must ensure it doesn't curtail schools' autonomy to the extent that it significantly impacts their operations. The criticism of the proposed 15% threshold for impacted parent numbers when it comes to challenging a school-level fee committee decision needs to be weighed against this tenet. The concerns of both parties - parents and school management - have to be heard. It is only a robust government school system - in terms of density, enrolment, outcomes delivered, student diversity, and teacher/pedagogy quality - that can bring about this balance. Private schools have to be an option available to students, not the only alternative to underperforming government schools. Competition in education must include public schools also to check the tendency for profiteering....