Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria has given his assent to the Punjab Regulation of Fees of Unaided Educational Institutions (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026, enabling the government to cap annual school fee hikes, including transportation and building charges, at 5 per cent a year.The law comes into force with immediate effect, announced Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Monday.As many as 7,800 private unaided schools with 32 lakh students will now be under scrutiny of regulatory committees headed by deputy commissioners in each district to assess the extent of fee hikes over the past four years, after schools have posted the data on a dedicated web portal in the next 10 days. These committees will audit the data submitted by the schools in next 90 days.“Punjab is the only state in the country that will force these schools to refund any fee that has been charged over and above the capped limit of five per cent. I will not allow education in the state to become a commercial business. Everyone has a right to good quality education at affordable prices,” said Mann, while addressing mediapersons on Monday.“If any school has increased the fee by over 15 per cent in the past three years, the excess amount will have to be refunded to the parents. Non-compliance will lead to stringent fines (Rs 50,000 for the first violation and Rs 1 lakh for the second violation) and ultimately de-recognition/de-affiliation of the errant schools after a third violation,” said Mann.The idea behind the move is to bring private school fees under a strict regulatory framework by promulgating the ordinance.The Chief Minister said previous governments had allowed private educational institutions to impose exorbitant fees on parents and students, severely damaging the education system.Referring to the guidelines of the Supreme Court, he said educational institutions could not make profit in the name of education by collecting fees through multiple accounts. “The ordinance provides robust protection to students and their families against arbitrary fee increases while ensuring complete transparency in the functioning of private educational institutions. Punjab has surpassed Kerala in the field of education due to the concerted efforts of my government,” said Mann.It may be mentioned any money collected from parents, irrespective of its description, will be treated as a fee.