The real cost of sending your kid to school

Sending your child to a private school in Dubai involves a fair amount of legwork, research and, above all, intense number-crunching exercises.

But if you thought all that budgeting ended once you’ve made the cheque for the annual school fee, then you are wrong.

Most parents who believe the annual tuition fee listed by the school determines their yearly school budget are often in for a shocker.

Many private schools in the UAE throw up an assortment of fees throughout the year, adding substantially to the annual fee.

“When we selected a school for our first-born, we looked only at the annual fee structure. It’s during the course of his first school year that we learnt that there are numerous additional charges,” says Devi, a Dubai resident.

“From school trips to book fairs to after-school activities, anything and everything came at a price.”

While many parents sign up for after-school activities of ballet, sports, music or extra tuition, they end up paying extra for it.

In addition, working parents who put up their child at the school’s day-care facility until they can pick them up after their office hours need to shell out quite a bit for day-care charges.

According to a study by Souqalmal.com, these expenses include school shoes and uniforms, school trips, lunches, craft markets, book fairs, charitable donations, after-school activities (and even) presents for teachers.

Hala El Khoury, who hails from Lebanon, estimates that she spends an extra Dh15,000 on her four-year-old daughter’s education on top of the Dh23,400 she is charged as school fees.

Another parent, Sameena Ramtoola, estimates the extras at Dh2,500 on top of the Dh38,000 annual fees for her five-year-old son. The numbers will double when her 21-month-old daughter goes to school.

“The extra amount was a surprise to me. The amount of school trips they have per term, the collections, contributions, every two weeks there is something new. The cost of the uniform was what surprised me the most,” she adds.

Most schools also charge for sports kits, branded bags, school lunches and school shoes. While such accessories obviously come at a price, a section of parents questions the need for certain items, such as branded school bags and sports kits.

In addition, summer camps are expensive, and most working parents have no choice but to enrol their children for them.

“You would think that the school’s summer camps would be economical, but they’re anything but. They charge a bomb. And often we are forced to send our kids there because they want to go where their friends go,” says Ritika, a mother of two school-going children.

For high school students, there’s the international school trips that cost anywhere between Dh6,000 and Dh12,000 per trip.

“When my son gets into Grade 5, then he’ll be going for these international trips. I heard that a ski trip last year was Dh10,000,” adds Ruchitra M, another parent.

The younger lot are also sent to local farms, museums or a weekend trip to another UAE emirate. And these too are charged to the parents.

Apart from these, there are also collections for class birthdays, school charities and even farewell gifts for friends/staff.

While most schools add the book fee in their annual amount, the Indian curriculum schools do not.

Some schools have even introduced iPads in the classroom, and this concept only means more money for the parent.

“Our son wanted an iPad for school, but we gave him a cheaper tablet as we thought a Grade 3 kid might not be able to handle an expensive gadget well,” says Ruchitra.

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