17 Abu Dhabi schools fined for ‘tampering with fees’

Abu Dhabi: A total of 17 private schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi have recently received fines for tampering with the fees approved for their institutions.

The approved fees had been set by the Adec, the emirate’s education sector regulator, which issued the fines along with warning letters, the Adec’s Private School and Quality Assurance department confirmed to Gulf News on Tuesday.

“The [fee tampering] was detected by means of various inspection and compliance visits, and by comparing receipts, sent to the Adec by parents, that showed that the fees did not match the approved schedule,” the Adec statement said. The schools charged more than the fees approved by Adec.

The authority, however, declined to name the institutions, or disclose details about what curricula they offer, due to “confidentiality purposes”.

Private schools in the emirate have the right to request fee increases each year, but these must be sanctioned by the Adec.

As reported by Gulf News in May, 39 schools were permitted to hike their fees for the 2014-2015 academic year. The average increase at each of these institutions, 23 of which are based in the capital and 16 in Al Ain, was about six per cent. At the same time, 43 applications for fee increases during the year were also rejected.

Officials revealed at a forum for private schools last month that institutions must now meet one or more of six criteria in order to be eligible for fee increases. These include improvements in school rankings, the recruitment of new teachers or salary increases and professional development for staff, investments in infrastructure and learning resources, a focus on recruiting Emirati teachers and enrolling Emirati pupils, efforts to integrate pupils and teachers with special needs, and an efficient system to handle and resolve parental complaints.

“If a school meets at least one of these criteria and has had no fee hike or violations in the previous academic year, it can apply for an increase. Some criteria, of course, are weighted differently from others, and these are all considered before a decision is made,” Hamad Al Daheri, executive director of private schools and quality assurance at the Adec, had said.

“Of course any changes in fees, if approved by the Adec, must be communicated in writing to parents,” he had added.