Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has instructed a private school in the capital to hold back its announced fee increase until an investigation is completed.
ADEC has received complaints from parents regarding fee increases in recent months and the quality of service provided by the Emirates Future International Academy school in Mussaffah, ADEC said in a statement to Gulf News.
"This school is due to be inspected in the near future, and during the course of the inspection ADEC will carry out a full investigation of these complaints. ADEC has instructed the school to hold all fees at April 2009 levels pending the outcome of that investigation," said the statement.
A memorandum, submitted by a group of parents to ADEC, said that the school claims to have the consent of Abu Dhabi Education Zone (ADEZ) to hike the fee up to Dh13,000 per annum, as it follows the American syllabus.
"But our children are being taught the Indian syllabus [Central Board of Secondary Education]," it said.
The school began the academic year 2008-2009 with a fee of Dh250 to Dh300 per month for grades I to IV.
They increased it to Dh400 per month for the year 2009-2010.
"This academic year, it has been increased to Dh700 per month and there is no uniform fee structure," the memorandum said.
It said other schools in the emirate following the Indian syllabus are allowed to charge an average fee of only Dh350 to Dh500 for grades I to IV.
Unnecessary charges
It also alleged about unnecessary charges such as laboratory fee, Annual Day fee and fee to look after children after school hours.
"The school lacks proper hygienic condition and clean toilets. Air-conditioners in many classrooms are not functioning," it said.
Emirates Future International Academy, in a statement to Gulf News, said fee was charged as per the structure approved by ADEZ in 2008.
"We believe that ours is the only CBSE-affiliated school with modern infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities [opened in Mussaffah recently] and upgraded up to Grade XII in the first year of its operation. The school has both American and Indian curriculum. But 75 per cent of the space and facilities are used by the CBSE curriculum. The school has stopped collecting the lab fee from June 2009."
The school also denied charging parents for delay in picking up children after 2pm.
"Even today 10 per cent of the children are picked-up from the school until 4pm," it said.
