Increase in rent forces school to shut down

Ras Al Khaimah: A private school was forced to close its doors after it failed to cope with increasing rents.

The school had more than 400 pupils who are now searching for alternative places to study.

The school's management decided that they could no longer bear the rent. The rent set by the landlord is fixed and cannot be altered. The guardians of the pupils have been given a notice to find other schools.

The school's owner held a meeting with the school management to find a way out but the meeting concluded that the only option was to shut down the school.

The principal and the management said the landlords is asking almost 10 times the old rent for the plot of land on which the school has been functioning for the past decades.

For the needy

Sources said the school's aim was to provide education for pupils from needy families who do not have enough resources to pay high tuition fees in other schools. The school management said it will not increase the tuition fees to pay the land rent.

The school management had reportedly scouted for all possible channels for funding but in vain.

Before the school management could decide what to do with the school's facilities constructed on the land, the landlord has already rented it to a construction company which will demolish the facilities to give way to other constructions.