Some parents reportedly approached the authority expressing their concern over the fee hike announcement by some schools in the area. The schools have announced a fee hike of up to 40 per cent, saying that it would otherwise be impossible for them to implement the Sixth Pay Commission’s recommendation regarding salaries and arrears. “The fee hike should be reasonable. There is a need for an agency to regulate such things,” Nangal said. He said education boards should regulate such matters. CBSE officials could not be reached for comment.

A Haryana government official said there is no ceiling on a fee hike for private schools and that they can only regulate schools that are recognised by the Haryana Board. But if parents have any complaints about private schools, they can send in a written complaint to them, which will then be forwarded to the Gurgaon deputy commissioner.

Unlike Delhi, where the government makes it mandatory for private schools to pay salaries to teachers at par with what the government pays its teachers, private schools in Haryana are not bound by any such regulations. It’s up to them to pay arrears and upgraded salaries to their teachers.

The schools, on their part, said they would have to pay the upgraded salaries in order to retain talent and maintain the quality of education, as schools in nearby Delhi will be paying much more. “The money has to come from fees. It’s simple logic,” V K Malhotra, director of Salwan schools, said.

Not all schools have announced a fee hike. The government’s stand is yet to be clarified, they said.

Another principal said the management would have to figure out whether teachers should be paid arrears and how much the raise should be. “We will have to work that out,” Rashi Narula, principal of Chiranjiv Bharati School, Palam Vihar in Gurgaon, said. “The management will decide on all of that.” Earlier, the school was waiting for the government to come out with a fee hike policy.

Delhi Public School Society chairman Ashok Chandra said schools under the aegis of the society have not announced any hike and they will wait for the government’s stand on the issue. An official at DPS Sushant Lok said they were waiting for the management’s decision on a fee hike.

In case of Salwan schools, director V K Malhotra said the arrears might not be paid in one lump sum. “It depends on our financial situation; we may have to defer the arrears,” he said. The DAV School and one other school have already sent fee bills with the hike and arrears factored in to parents.