Panjab to Cap Private School Fee Hikes; Secures Top Rank in School Education

June

2026

Following the death of a 17-year-old student, Amjot Kaur, by suicide in Amritsar, Panjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced that private schools in the state will not be allowed to increase fees by more than 5% per annum. CM Mann said the Panjab government will introduce a law in the next Legislative Assembly session against arbitrary fee hikes by private schools. Mann said he received multiple calls from distressed parents about schools withholding roll numbers before exams, denying certificates without a ‘no dues’ clearance, and forcing students to stand in corners as punishment. He added, ‘Schools that hiked fees by more than 15% in the last three years must refund the excess amount immediately.’ Amjot was a Class 12 student of a private school in Fatehgarh Churian, Amritsar district. She had consumed a poisonous substance on 22 May and succumbed during treatment at the hospital. Amjot had recorded a video from the hospital that went viral. In the video, she states, ‘I was called to school on 11 May, and was taken to a separate room where I was mentally tortured.’ Amjot lost her life over the pending school fees of around USD 209. Federation of Private Schools and Associations President, Jagjit Singh Dhuri, said that CM Mann had promised a similar policy back in 2022, but it had not been implemented. Barely two weeks after taking oath as CM, Mann had barred private schools from increasing fees ‘by even a single rupee’ (USD 0.01) for the 2022–23 academic session and warned them against compelling parents to purchase books and uniforms from specific shops. There are 7,589 unaided private schools in Panjab catering to 3.1M students. Furthermore, a Class 10 student, Gagandeep Kaur, questioned CM Mann at a state function about the use of age-based tie-breakers to rank students with identical scores in board examinations, prompting CM Mann to scrap their use. Additionally, according to the latest Education Quality Report 2026, Panjab has secured the top position in school education in India, ahead of Kerala, Maharashtra, and Delhi. Barnala has emerged as the top-performing district in Panjab and secured the third position among districts across the country in the Performance Grading Index 2.0 (earlier coverage).