'Our job is to ensure good schools are available to all'

Dubai: The 16 per cent fee cap on private schools in Dubai yesterday will undergo an annual revision, said the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) yesterday.

The new policy of governing the tuition of private schools comes as part of KHDA's mandate towards developing the quality of the education sector in Dubai.

The KHDA is a government authority launch-ed recently by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The policy is the first initiative of the KHDA and is based on an extensive process of gathering data from private schools in Dubai which was administered by the Dubai Education Council (DEC).

The KHDA said the status of all private schools will be reviewed each year, when institutions apply for the renewal of their licences. It said the eight new schools which will be operational at the beginning of September catering to about 12,000 pupils will also be governed by the new policy.

Schools with reputed international accreditation or which fall in the category of non-profit institutions will self-regulate their fees in coordination with the KHDA.

This is being done because of the additional costs incurred in maintaining international accreditation and non-profit schools re-investing surplus back into the development of the schools.

Furthermore the KHDA decided to leave the setting of fee levels for embassy schools as they fall under the supervision of their respective governments.

These schools are expected to adopt a new set of quality and performance standards.

"Put simply, we need very good schools to educate our children for their future, and the future of Dubai. Our job is to ensure that this opportunity is made available to every child in Dubai," said Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Director-General of the KHDA.

He said the aim is to ensure a balanced growth and development of a high-quality education sector, offering broad choices and high quality for parents, while at the same time remaining attractive to education investors.

According to the KHDA, a set of quality and performance criteria will ensure schools will develop collective decision-making processes involving governors and parents, work towards international accreditation, and commit funds to support teacher training and development.

Reacting to the fee cap Monica Harter, director corporate communications, Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) which runs 16 schools in Dubai said: "Unfortunately, we are not in a position to comment as we have not received any formal communication from the authorities on this matter."

On a similar note, Ziad Azzam, CEO, Beacon Education, said: "We cannot comment until we have notification in writing from the Dubai Education Council. However, we will always respect the decision."

Dr Mohammad Robin Edris, General Director of National Charity Schools which has not increased fees for 13 years said: "I can't understand on what basis a 16 per cent fee cap was decided. In my opinion a fee hike should only be applied if schools prove that they are offering quality education and improve teachers' salaries."

Parents on the other hand had mixed reactions. Some were pleased, while others were disappointed saying they did not want to see a fee hike at all for another two years.

Bushra Ali, a UAE national parent, welcomed the new policy and said that it had brought her much-needed relief from the burden of dealing with continuous "unjustifiable" fee increases.

Ali, whose child is a grade four pupil at a private school said she would prefer a 16 per cent increase every three years on condition that the schools provide continuous quality education.

Kaushik Gupta an Indian parent whose child is in grade seven in a school affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education in Dubai said: " It was only last year that the school increased their fees. Now with the 16 per cent fee cap, all schools will go for the hike."

He said the hike should be applicable to only those schools that have not gone for a fee hike in the last couple of years.