Every private school must publish its fee on the notice board and surrender 3 years of records
On April 15, the Public Education Directorate ordered every private school in Chhattisgarh to print approved fees on the notice board and surrender three years of fee-committee minutes. District education officers had 48 hours to certify compliance.
At a Bilaspur trust office on April 16, an accountant was hunting through 2024-25 ledgers — the kind that usually sit unread in a cupboard. The District Education Officer had given the school until next afternoon to produce three years of fee-committee meeting minutes, prove a notice-board fee display and certify the committee even existed. The Public Education Directorate's April 15 circular landed without a phone call to most owners. By April 17 evening, district officers were filing the first non-compliance reports.
What the circular demands
The Public Education Directorate's April 15, 2026 order to all 33 District Education Officers (DEOs) makes three demands of every non-government school in Chhattisgarh — about 6,500 institutions. First, the approved fee for 2026-27 must be displayed publicly on the school notice board with the resolution date alongside. Second, the fee-regulation committee mandated under the Chhattisgarh Non-Government Fee Regulation Act, 2020 must be in place — actually meeting, not just notified on paper. Third, the school must surrender minutes from every committee meeting held in 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27, with attendance, decisions and the resolution number behind every grade-wise student fee head the parent eventually paid.
What this changes for your school
If your school skipped a committee meeting in any of those three years, this audit will find it. The 2020 Act gives the state recognition-cancellation powers when fee committees exist only on paper, and DEOs have been told to flag repeat non-compliance for the next inspection cycle. For schools that already keep fee resolutions in an audited document store, the request is a 30-minute export — meeting date, attendance, resolution number, signed PDF. For schools running on Excel sheets and email threads, it is week-long forensic work.
What to watch next
This is the second tightening in twelve weeks. The state's 8% annual fee-hike cap was the headline rule — this circular is the enforcement scaffolding. Expect the next directive ahead of the May 30 admission close, likely tying 2027-28 recognition renewals to clean fee-committee records.
Source: The Sootr. Order: Chhattisgarh Public Education Directorate, April 15, 2026.
Frequently asked
3 questionsWhich schools does the April 15 fee circular apply to?
The order applies to every non-government recognised school in Chhattisgarh — CBSE-affiliated, ICSE, state-board and minority institutions. Government schools are exempt because their fees are state-set. About 6,500 private institutions across the 33 districts are within scope of the audit.
What if the fee committee was constituted on paper but never met?
The order specifically asks for meeting minutes, attendance and resolutions — not the committee notification. A committee that exists only on paper will fail audit, exposing the school to action under the Chhattisgarh Non-Government Fee Regulation Act 2020, including fee freeze and recognition review at the next inspection.
Where on the notice board does the fee have to be displayed?
The circular says fees must be displayed publicly with the approving resolution date — typically the main notice board at the school's primary entrance. The display must show grade-wise approved tuition fee, transport fee and any optional add-ons separately, so parents can verify what was sanctioned by the committee.
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