Perform well and increase fees, Dubai schools told

Dubai: Private school fee increases in Dubai for the academic year 2009 to 2010 will be directly linked to their overall performance.

According to a comprehensive system of fee regulation announced yesterday by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the best performing schools can hike their fee up to 15 per cent while those found 'unsatisfactory' or 'acceptable' will have to settle for seven and nine per cent increases respectively. Schools that fall under the category 'good' will have the go-ahead for a 12 per cent increase this year.

The Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau (DSIB) will classify schools into four categories, unsatisfactory, acceptable, good and outstanding. The results shall determine the allowed tuition adjustment for each school, while taking into consideration the annual operational costs of schools.

"The DSIB will conclude all inspections of private schools in Dubai by March 30, excluding 25 private schools that follow the Indian and Pakistani curriculum and six Iranian schools. Furthermore, based on the current inspections, we will report all the results .. by May 17," said Jameela Al Muhairi, Chief of DSIB.

"The Inspection Bureau is currently carrying out inspections of both private and public schools; to date, 140 schools have been inspected out of 189 schools," she added.

Private schools following the Indian and Pakistani curriculum, whose academic year begins in April, will follow the Ministerial Decree 1/203 for 2008 and the allowed tuition adjustment is five per cent to ten per cent for this year only. Their fees will be later based on their inspection performance levels assessed by the DSIB.

Mohammad Darwish, KHDA's Chief of Licensing and Customer Relations, said the regulatory system was built on a solid foundation. He added the decision takes into consideration the current and future cost of transportation along with the average spend on education.

"The system will be evaluated by the end of the upcoming academic year and shall be fine-tuned to serve stakeholders better. It is a positive step towards granting schools the opportunity to make their own decisions."

Do you welcome the fee structure? What problems do you have when paying tuition fees?

I am happy with the new criteria for fee hike. I hope it will be implemented with immediate effect. Our Own English School Sharjah have already hiked the bus fees and if they increase the school fees also we will be in trouble. Salary is not at all increasing and how a person can cope with the expenses I dont kno.
Sudha Rajan
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 14:43

The schools were increasing the fee for several past years. As there is no hike in the salary for most of the companies the fee should not be increased. Moreover the transportation fee already had a hike of 100%. I hope the KHDA take care of this too.
Shajila
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 14:17

OOEHS Sharjah has increased the transport Fee from Dh120 to Dh250, when the transport they are using is the same with just the name change. Isnt it the responsibility of the school to provide the best of education to the students, or are the starting the school just to earn money? i fail to understand why performance has to be rewarded. on the other hand, I think it would have been better that the authority just cancels the registration of the schools which are not performing. Is there any way for us parents to understand how the increase will be used to bring in performance improvement for the next year? Please don't increase the school fees. It's very difficult to manage tuition fees as well as house expenses.
Gangu Prasad
Sarjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 14:12

what is the criteria to anyalyse the standard? if one school is under performing but higher fees than another school which is outstanding but lower fees than the former? do they still allow both the schools to increase the fees?? We need quality education and not state of the art facilities in the school. the schools are increasing the fees stating "GPRS in school bus, swimming pool, gym, etc. as a pretext but silent on quality of education. how can they boast a class room with 35+ students will have any quality?
Anil
Dubai,India
Posted: March 19, 2009, 12:43

Well. I do not think there is going to be any drastic change in the quality of the education that will be provided in the coming year and hence I believe there shouldnt be any hike on school fees as this is the basic need of growing youth and instead we should entertain as much of them getting good education to buid a new look for the whole Nation. Education can not be a business. This is my personal view.
Jayakrishnan A. K.
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 12:20

I earnestly hope this rule will also be applied in Sharjah. The school in which my children go in Sharjah has been hanging over my head since two months in the name of an upcoming tuition fee hike. Transportation charges has been doubled recently on account of an outsourcing ploy. The poor parents are really sandwitched between all of these.
Haris M.
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 12:07

Very good decision. Really all parents will welcome this.
Indira
sharjah,Uae
Posted: March 19, 2009, 11:14

Dear Sir/MAdamfirst of all OOEHS Dubai fees is too much. Please don't increase the school fees. It's very diffculties to manage to do tuition fees as well as house expenses.
Hajera
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 10:51

Appreciate the proposal by Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), but this is not a relief for the reason most of the schools have hiked transporation fess by 90-100%. KHDA and RTA should ensure a standard increase on transportation fees along with tution fees. KHDA has mentioned to divide the rating by four categories. Just hope they consider the factit is the caliber of the teacher not only the high profile premises which should be graded on.
Blesco
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 10:44

Yes, now the adopting fee structure is excellent. But I am a working mother. So my son wants the tution also. So both fees are not bearable. So please any advise?
Shaly Roy
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 10:40

The hiking fee structure is not welcomed by me. I believe where there is only 1 member in the family to earn, trying to take care of all the possible expenses.
Sana Khan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 10:27

I will not be surprised to read that GEMS will outsource the teaching faculty and increase the school fees to earn a little extra from the parents.
Rayner Mathias
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 10:19

I see the merit in performance based fee increase, but i fail to understand why performance will be rewarded. Is there any way for us parents to understand how the increase will be used to bring in performance improvement for the next year? What measures will be taken if the school fails to meet the same for successive year/s?
N. B.
Mumbai,India
Posted: March 19, 2009, 09:48

The fees have been rising much too quickly and are not linked with salary rises, in my job I have not had a salary rise for over 6 years and it is a big struggle to afford these well overpriced school fees. The rise according to performance sounds good, but we are paying now for what we should expect from the schools (excellence)!!!
Mark Kevin Monkhouse
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 09:23

Very interesting. Now the school also gets targets and a commission structure on their annual performance. I always knew that some schools int the UAE are a profitable business.
Aliasgar dohadwala
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:47

Why are 25 private schools that follow the Indian and Pakistani curriculum and six Iranian schools not included in this same net? A rule should be same to all.
Sandeep Gehani
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:41

Our Own English School Sharjah has increased the transport Fee from Dh120 to Dh250, do you feel is it justice
Elias
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:37

First and foremost I have noticed that many teachers are housewives and incapable of being dedicated teachers. Qualified teachers from various other countries alongwith with good salary packages need to be encouraged since these young minds can be developed in proper and right way to prosper in future.
Shobhana Rao
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:34

It has been noticed that school fees hike is constantly going on for the past several years. There should be an end to these fee hikes. Salaries are not increasing but school fees. I have four school going children how can I bear this regular hike? Although my salary is not increasing.
Mohammad Khan
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:33

Regulating the fees hikes is a good move by authorities. All these moves are for the betterment of the society to protect them from overpaying. Can next in line be minimum salary increament requiremnet for employers stating minimum increaments?
From A Reader
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:26

What is the criteria for labelling schools as unsatisfactory, good and outstanding? And if a school falls as unsatisfactory then how is a 7 per cent fee hike justified for it at all? I think this categorisation would lead only to disparity among the children and ultimately harm their future growth. It would further demoralise teachers, who maybe outstanding teachers but teach in unsatisfactory schools. Every child has a right to good education irrespective of the financial background he/she comes from.
Samitha Uthayya
Mumbai,India
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:21

It is a very appropriate step taken by the KHDA. I personally feel these private schools should charge based on the quality of service they are providing. My heartly congratulations to the authority.
Suresh M.
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 08:09

Linking school fees to the overall performance of the school seems like a fair enough decision. More emphasis must be given on educational features instead of ground and campus facilities. The standard of teaching methods and education system followed must be given prime importance. The teacher child ratio and performance of children must be considered while evaluating the performance of the school.
Naina Nair
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 07:49

Why don't the authorities take some view of the parents as well to rate the school? There's a school that gives three pages of homework for a kid who ha been in the school for one month and respectively for the higher class most of the education is done at home.
Nelson
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 07:28

I agree with the idea since some schools in the UAE are run like small businesses that offer a product (education) to its clients. Like businesses there are various fees that increase depending on the quality of product you are buying. My question is do teacher get a piece of these increases since they are the main reason any school would be qualified as good or superior? Without teachers a school has no means to deliver it curriculum, which is its product.
Judy
montreal,Canada
Posted: March 19, 2009, 03:57

Fees increase every year by at least 10%. Just last year, my daughter, who goes to a school in Jumairah had a fee increase of about 15%. I think the authorities should just allow schools to increase their fees every 2-3 years by a maximum of 7%. It is unbelievable how expensive schools are getting - with fees increasing annually by a great percent.
Carla
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 19, 2009, 02:50