Abu Dhabi/Dubai/Sharjah: Schools across the country have burst back to life with the start of a fresh academic year, changing routines and lifestyles for millions of residents, both young and grown-ups.
For children, there will be new things to learn as they start their first semester in a higher grade.
It will be a new experience for schools too, as private educators in different emirates align themselves to a more unified approach in official school inspections, which will include rating them on national education targets.
Growing expectations
Education authorities’ expectations of students and schools are growing, who are being guided to these meet national goals, which include high performance in standardised international science and math assessments, reading skills and problem-solving based on “real-life” scenarios.
Many parents, meanwhile, are sending their children to new schools that have opened this academic year, easing the pressure on available seats and waiting lists. In Dubai’s nearly 200 schools, for instance, almost 90 per cent of roughly 300,000 seats were already occupied in the previous school cycle.
Parents are also busy buying new uniforms, bags, shoes, books and stationery for their children, many of whom follow the latest fad, typically based on the latest hit in children’s movies. Finding Dory is also finding its way to the top of school shopping list this season.
Expats interviewed by Gulf News said they spend around 20 to 40 per cent of their income on tuition fees and other schooling costs, such as bus fees, supplies and “activity fees”.
In Abu Dhabi, 51 out of 90 applications to raise school fees were accepted this year. The average hike there will be six per cent.
Parents feel the pinch
In Dubai, 122 schools were granted permission to increase fees for this academic year, which are set between 3.21 per cent and 6.42 per cent, depending on the school inspection rating.
And though many schools’ tuition fees are the same this year, some parents are still feeling the pinch as their income has also remained stagnant, or even dropped in a few cases. As children progress to higher grade levels, so do the costs.
