Gems hikes fee in some of its schools

Parents at several Gems managed Indian schools say they have received letters from the school management about a hike in school fees.

Gems, which manages 26 schools in the UAE – 17 in Dubai – of which six are Indian, has decided to increase the fees of most Indian schools with the exception of Dubai Modern School.

One parent told Emirates 24|7 that they received a circular from our Own English High School that his child's fee has been increased by almost Dh65 per month starting this academic year.

According to one official from Gems, the hike is limited to just five Indian schools and ranges between Dh46– Dh97 per month.

“The hike has been implemented only in schools with fee structure lower than other Indian schools. Even with the latest increase the fees in these schools are less compared to several other new Indian schools that have come up,”the official said.

According to him Dubai Modern school has been spared of a hike as it has still not completed three years.

In an official statement Gems said, “Gems schools are continually setting the benchmark in Dubai in terms of academic results achieved and university acceptances. However our older Indian schools which offer this high quality education at a lower fee level, in comparison to much more expensive newer Indian schools, are struggling to be self-sustaining. A restructuring of fees is required to sustain the levels of academic success that both our parents and Gems expect. We will, as a consequence, add more professional development programmes for our teachers which will directly enhance a student’s performance.”

Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) which approves any increase in fee hike in schools operating in Dubai had barred alls schools from increasing its fees for 2010-11 academic year. However, Gems managed to get special permission from the Ministry of Education and went ahead with the hike.

This year too Gems said it has received approval from the Ministry of Education to implement the hike.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.