School fees in the UAE – all you need to know

Dubai: Making sure you are able to accommodate the school fees within your monthly and yearly budget is important.

Here is an in-depth guide on all you need to know about school fees, and the school fee structure in the UAE.

School fees in the UAE

Every year, schools announce their fees for the upcoming academic year, which may remain the same, or increase or decrease depending on certain factors, like the school’s rating or any new facilities or infrastructure that are being made available.

According to the official UAE government portal – u.ae, the educational councils and zones in each emirate regulate fees in private schools, which will differ depending on school type, curriculum and facilities, and school ranking.

In Abu Dhabi, requests for fee increase from private school are submitted every January to the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK). The conditions for determining the annual increase includes the evaluation agenda, improving facilities and infrastructure, investing in human resources amongst others. The admission of students of determination and provision of support needed for them is also taken into account while determining the fees. ADEK stressed that the fee increase applications must be linked to school improvement plan.

In Dubai, for-profit schools can increase their fees based on their individual school grade as per the results of Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) and the Education Cost Index (ECI) which is calculated on a regular basis.

How to find a school’s fees in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi government has the Tamm portal, which is a unified system that allows users to find Abu Dhabi government services and information, including school fees of private schools in the emirate.

There are over 500 schools and nurseries in Abu Dhabi, and you can narrow down your list of education institutions, by visiting the following web page - https://www.tamm.abudhabi/journeys/get-education/schools

If you already have a school that you would like to consider, you can type out the name of the school in the search bar and the website will provide you with the tuition fees charged by them

Alternatively, you can narrow down your search for schools based on the following criteria:

• Education type – Charter, private or nursery
• Curriculum – International Baccalaureate (IB), American, Bangladesh, British, Canadian, French, German, Indian, Iranian, Japanese, Private schools offering Ministry of Education curriculum, Pakistan, Philippine, SABIS (a global education management organisation, originating from Lebanon)
• Grade/Year
• Gender
• Annual fees
• Irtiqaa Rating

How to find a school’s fees in Dubai

There are over 200 private schools in Dubai, which are regulated by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). The authority’s website – khda.gov.ae – provides an online resource where the details of all the schools operating in the emirate can be found, including their school fees.

To find the fees of schools in Dubai, simply visit the web page -https://web.khda.gov.ae/en/Education-Directory/Schools, where you can narrow down the schools based on the following criteria:

• Is the school new or existing?
• Curriculum – International Baccalaureate (IB), American, Australian, Chinese, French, German, Indian, Indian/IB, Iranian, Japanese, Private schools offering Ministry of Education curriculum, Pakistani, Philippine, Russian, SABIS (a global education management organisation, originating from Lebanon), UK and others.
• Grade
• Overall rating
• Location
• Fee range

Once the system shows you a school or list of schools, you can click on ‘School fee fact sheet’, and select the grade in which your child will be enrolling.

You will then get a breakdown of all the fees the school may charge, including the tuition fees, as well as optional fees such as transport, canteen etc.

How to find a school’s fee in Sharjah

The Sharjah Private Education Authority (SPEA) oversees private schools in the emirate. You can get a list of all the schools operating in the emirate by visiting SPEA’s online school directory here: https://spea.shj.ae/en/educational-institutions/?s=s

The directory provides details of each school, including the curriculum and evaluation results. However, to get details of school fees, you would need to contact the school directly, or visit their website.

How to find a school’s fees in other emirates

Private schools operating in Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, Ajman and Fujairah operate under the UAE’s Ministry of Education, through local branches or educational zones.

You can reach out to a school directly, or visit their website, if you wish to get details of all the charges you will need to cover.