UAE | Education
Parents outraged by school fee increases of up to 70%
Parents were up in arms yesterday when seven schools in the UAE opted to go in for a fee hike ranging from 55per cent to 70 per cent.
- By Siham Al Najami and Sunita Menon, Staff Reporters
- Published: 00:00 December 19, 2006
Dubai: Parents were up in arms yesterday when seven schools in the UAE opted to go in for a fee hike ranging from 55per cent to 70 per cent.
Three of these schools belong to the Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) and have already sent circulars of the revised fee structure to parents.
A Ministry of Education official told Gulf News that the ministry is yet to provide approval for a fee revision to these schools.
"The ministry has not been notified about the hike. Some of these schools are not allowed to ask for a hike in fee structure. As per the ministry regulations a fee revision is only allowed every three years. The maximum increase should not be more than 20 per cent," said a ministry official.
A parent who has four school age children said; "When I received the circular for a fee revision from the Cambridge International School I was shocked. The school had already brought in a fee hike of 20 per cent in September 2005."
Rising costs
The circular from the Cambridge International School reads "In order for us to enhance teachers' salaries, needs, increased operating costs and continue to improve on our high standards, tuition fees will increase by 30 per cent from January 2007 and a further 25 per cent at the beginning of next academic year in September 2007." The circular further says that the Ministry of Education has been informed of this fee revision.
Similarly a circular from The Westminster School, Dubai says that in order to continue providing a world class international education for all students, it is essential to increase tuition fees by 70 per cent. The fees will be increased in two stages, 35 per cent in January 2007 and 35 per cent in the next academic year in September 2007.
"We received complaints from parents whose children study in seven different schools in Dubai regarding fee hike," said Abdul Rehman Yousef, head of the private school licensing section at the Dubai Education Zone. "We have to investigate the issue and if it turns out to be true then it will be considered as a violation. In such cases the schools will have to pay a Dh10,000 fine," he added.
"I am sure that the schools did not get the permission to implement the fee hike. It is ridiculous. It was only last year that the schools increased their fees. The ministry should come down heavily on these schools," said another parent whose two children attend a private school in Dubai.
Income static
Another parent whose children attend one of the GEMS schools said: "It is very painful. On one hand we have the exorbitant rent on the other we are burdened with a fee hike every year. Unfortunately our income remains the same. We also need to plan for our children's higher education. My daughter is in grade 10 and with this fee hike we have no other choice but to get her into another school."
According to a ministry official schools have to apply a month prior to the start of the school.
Share this article
More from UAE Education
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Have your say
Living in untidy homes
Do you think that people who live in untidy homes have bad character?
Latest news
- Khalifa congratulates Karzai on re-election
- Khalifa receives congratulatory call from Talabani
- Complaints against cab drivers decline
- Camel in RAK gives birth to twins
- No hike in water, electricity rates
- Thalassaemia website 'will help educate youth'
- Saif is appointed Emiratisation chief
- Experts call for reviewing green cost of desalination
- Readers: Less water usage means less desalination
- Dubai Police open centre to combat marine pollution
- Pavement parking irks pedestrians
- Man jailed 3 years in fatal assault of colleague
- Murder: Mother gets stiffer sentence
- Traffic Prosecution adopts humanitarian step
- 'All-green' project to ease traffic flow
Community Reports
-
Pavement parking irks pedestrians
Gulf News reader calls on authorities to step in and stop car owners from invading pathways meant for safe walking
-
Faded parking lines pose a problem
Motorists could be fined for parking incorrectly even though they can hardly see the boundaries in the designated areas
-
School buses block residential parking
Commercial vehicles taking up free parking facilities in Al Wuheida, inconveniencing residents in surrounding villas
-
Community report: Doing their bit for poor children
A group of students takes concrete action to raise funds for Dubai Cares
