The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has approved 6.6 per cent hike in tuition fee for 60 schools in the emirate from the next academic year.
Other fees including books, transportation and uniform also witnessed a hike of 5.3 per cent, 12.3 per cent and 0.7 respectively, Khaleej Times reported.
Among those granted hike 31 schools are from Abu Dhabi city, 24 from Al Ain and five from the Western Region. While 18 are following the Ministry of Education curriculum; 19 UK and US curricula; nine are the International Baccalaureate, French, Canadian and Japanese schools; and 14 are Asian schools.
However, it was not clear what is the maximum increase granted by the ADEC to some of the schools. Last year, the council had allowed up to 20 per cent increase.
Brian Fox, division manager for the private school licensing and accreditation at the ADEC, said, “School applications are considered on their individual merit.”
According to the ADEC, the average requests for increase in tuition fees ranged between 5 per cent and 208 per cent; while 5 per cent to 339 per cent hike was requested in book fees, 10 per cent to 129 per cent in transportation fees and 5 per cent to 371 per cent hike in uniform fees.
Early this year, the ADEC implemented a formalised process in accepting and granting requests for fee increases. This includes filling in a request form and submitting it within a certain period — March for Asian schools and April for schools following the standard September-June calendar. Schools also need to present a compelling case justifying their request.