Parents worried over Dubai schools fee hike

With the Dubai education regulatory authority – Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) – allowing private schools to raise fees by 3% to 6% depending on its grading, for this academic year, parents are far from happy.

“There’s been no official statement by the school yet, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” says the mother of a Year 12 student of Dubai International Academy.

But that slim ray of hope aside, most parents are united in rejecting this move, labelling it unnecessary.

“No hike is welcome, at any point in time. But the impact will be felt only in September,” says a parent of Emirates International School.

And the impact will only double, or triple, for families with more than one child.

“My two kids go to Dubai Modern High School, and it’s going to be really tough. We are shocked,” says Kimberly (name changed).

She even worked out the math for Dubai Modern High School, where the annual tuition of Dh 30,000 will escalate to Dh31,800, when the new plan comes into play.

“Firstly fees are so high, and now it’s only going to get more costly.”

Some parents even questioned whether the decision was appropriate at a time of economic uncertainty.

“This is just terrible news. We are already going through so much.

“There’s no job security here and many of us have not got an increment even, so how is this increase warranted?” questioned Sheila (name changed).

Despite the pessimism over the increase, some parents are willing to overlook the money crunch it if it upgrades the quality of education.

“If it helps improve the standard of the school, then it is understandable, but otherwise it’s unjustified,” reasoned a parent, who alleged that schools should first hire experienced teaching staff and not “housewives”.

A marked percentage of parents, however, are sceptical if the quality of education is, in any way, correlated to the fees. “How much will they improve? It’s not like if we pay more, they’ll teach our kids better?” queried Ricky.

“It’s a very raw deal for parents,” stressed a source from Our Own English School, on condition of anonymity, underlining how the mark-up will, in no way, benefit the teachers. “This won’t help anyone but the school.”

In fact, a parent, who recently moved her child from Delhi Public School to Dubai Modern High School, is baffled how this will impact her bank balance.

“If my daughter remained in DPS, we would’ve paid (annually) Dh9,326 (a 4.5% increase from Dh8,925), but now it’s going to get more expensive.”

The parents, most of whom learnt about the development through media reports, are still unsure about how this will be implemented.

“We have not received any intimidation from the school,” admitted Kimberly. “We have just paid for the entire year, so I don’t know how it will be worked out.”

The findings by the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau at KHDA grades the Dubai schools as outstanding, good, satisfactory and unsatisfactory.

And the new fees will be marked based on this rating, with 6% rise for outstanding, 4.5% for good and 3% for satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Schools will have to apply to KHDA to make changes in their fee structure, which will cover tuition, transportation, uniforms and school books.

According to the KHDA, the objective behind this regulation is to protect the parents and also to encourage investors in the education sector, and thus improve the quality of education.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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