Dubai: Eight new schools will open in Dubai this academic year, the education authority told Gulf News. Three schools will follow the Indian curriculum, four will follow British (IB) curriculum and one Filipino curriculum, Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) officials said.
The schools will be spread all over Dubai, with a focus on Al Ruwaiyah, Al Wuheida, Dubai Sports City, Nad Al Sheba and Al Khail Road.
Together, the Indian schools (annual fee range between Dh13,000 and Dh36,000) have the capacity to enroll up to 10,500 students, and three out of the four British curriculum schools (annual fee range between Dh33,000 and Dh105,000) have a capacity of 6,100 students.
Meanwhile, the Dubai government will soon announce whether private schools will be allowed to increase their fees in the new academic year, Gulf News has learnt.
In April Last year, the KHDA published the School Fees Framework for Dubai’s private schools. It now governs school fee-related issues.
The eligibility to increase fees will be based on the quality of education provided by the school, as judged by the school inspections conducted by the KHDA, in addition to an Educational Cost Index (ECI) calculated by the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC).
Education officials said that KHDA and DSC are gearing up to announce the Educational Cost Index shortly.
In 2012, of the 150 private schools in Dubai, 129 were allowed to increase their fees. Only six schools did not request a fee increase.
Schools were allowed to increase their fees by a minimum of three per cent to a maximum of six per cent last year. This came after a two-year freeze on fee hikes (except for a few Gems schools which procured permission from the Education Ministry).
Schools rated as outstanding in the inspections were allowed to increase their fees by six per cent while schools rated good were allowed to do so by 4.5 per cent, and satisfactory and unsatisfactory schools were allowed a hike of 3 per cent.
