With the new academic year just two and a half months away, parents in Telangana are once again facing the stress of skyrocketing private school fees. Despite years of promises from successive governments, a formal law to control fee hikes remains stuck in the pipeline. While the Congress government has repeatedly discussed a "Fee Regulation Bill," it was notably absent from the recent Assembly sessions. Meanwhile, many schools affiliated with CBSE and ICSE boards have already started finalizing admissions and collecting high fees for the upcoming session. In some extreme cases, schools in areas like Patancheru have reportedly charged up to Rs 18,000 just for textbooks, leading to protests by parents that have largely gone unheard by authorities.

Parents Association Fighting Over a Decade

The struggle for fee regulation has been ongoing for over a decade. Here are some critical points highlighted in recent reports:

Hyderabad city base parents were paying highest fees in the country. Studies suggest that Hyderabad has some of the highest school fees compared to any other city in India.  While the highest annual tuition fee for an engineering seat in the state is approximately Rs 1.83 lakh, there are about 10 to 15 private schools charging over Rs 5 lakh per year. Without a regulatory body, some schools are increasing fees by 20% to 30% annually.  Various committees, including the Tirupati Rao Committee (2017), suggested that fee hikes should be capped at 10% per year, but these recommendations haven't been strictly enforced.

A History of Delays

The fight to control "fee looting" has seen many committees but little action:

2016: The Supreme Court ruled that the state government has the power to regulate fees.

2017: A committee led by former OU Vice-Chancellor Tirupati Rao submitted a report.

2022: A cabinet sub-committee was formed to look into the issue.

2024–2025: The current government announced plans for a new committee and received a draft bill titled "Telangana Private School Regulatory and Monitoring Commission Bill-2025."

2026: Most recently, the Education Commission recommended a new draft bill to cover both schools and junior colleges, yet the law is still not active.

Why Parents are Worried?

The Hyderabad School Parents Association (HSPA) has been fighting for over ten years, arguing that education is becoming unaffordable for the middle class. Without a legal "crackdown" or a functional monitoring commission, parents fear they will continue to be at the mercy of private school managements who set prices without any government oversight.  As the 2026 academic season approaches, the question remains: when will the government finally turn these drafts into a law that protects families from fee fraud?