'Outstanding' Dubai schools' fee hike

Education regulator Knowledge and Human Development Authority will allow outstanding Dubai schools to hike fees by up to 6.42 per cent this year.

The increase is calculated based on the Education Cost Index (ECI) and the grade of the school in the inspection report.

The Dubai Statistics Centre set the new ECI at 3.21 per cent, allowing private schools in Dubai to adjust their costs for the new academic year.

According to the KHDA fee framework, schools rated 'outstanding' will be allowed to increase fees by 6.42 per cent, which is double the ECI.

'Very good' schools will be eligible for 5.61 per cent, which is 1.75 times the ECI; and, 'Good' schools will be allowed 4.81 per cent, which is 1.5 times the ECI.

The 'acceptable', 'weak' and 'very weak' will be allowed to increase by 3.21 per cent.

“The fee framework has been updated to align with the new six-scale UAE School Inspection framework which determines the quality of education in schools. It protects parents from arbitrary increases and provides an effective mechanism to balance the expectations of school investors and parents,” said Mohammed Darwish, Chief of Regulations & Permits Commission at KHDA.

The ECI takes into account school operating costs which include teacher salaries, rent, maintenance, electricity and water charges among a basket of other commodities.

Last year, schools were allowed up to 5.84 per cent increase, with the ECI set at 2.92 per cent.

The Dubai School Inspection report for the new academic year will be released soon, with the Indian and Pakistani schools up for grading published first.

In 2014, Dubai schools were allowed 3.48 per cent for “outstanding” schools, 2.61 per cent for “good” and 1.74 per cent for the rest.

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