Schools must pay labour card fees of teachers

Dubai: The Ministry of Education has issued a circular making it compulsory for schools to pay for labour cards fees for teachers working in their schools on their husband's or father's visa.

However, the teachers are wondering if they would get a refund of the labour cards fees they have paid earlier.

The new circular, issued by Ali Mehad Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary of the Human Resources Planning and Development Department and Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Private and Quality Education, amended the circular of 2000 which stipulated that teachers on husband's or father's visa should pay for their labour card fees.

The new circular, which takes effect immediately, says that the schools should bear the labour card fees of their staff.

The circular was issued following a Gulf News report which revealed conflicting instructions from the labour and education ministries on who should pay for the labour cards.

Al Suwaidi said the amendment should have come earlier to be in line with the changing rules of the ministry of labour.

However, a senior ministry of labour official confirmed to Gulf News that labour card fees have always been the responsibility of the employer. "A mistake has been done and someone should be held responsible. They should pay for the consequences since they made poor teachers believe it is their duty to pay for the labour card fees," said a teacher. A refund is necessary to make up for the mistake, she added.

A teacher, who had contacted Gulf News earlier this month to voice her grievances over labour card fee deductions, described the move as wonderful but wondered if she would be refunded.

"The question now is how the amended circular will prove beneficial for us. We want our money back. They deducted some Dh2,200 which is a whole month's salary," she said.