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Ten Sharjah schools to hike fees

SHARJAH - Ten Arab and foreign private schools in Sharjah, out of a total of 82 private schools, have submitted applications to the Sharjah Educational Zone requesting an increase in tuition fees.

The increase being sought varies from 10 to 20 per cent.

The Sharjah Educational Zone is still receiving applications for a hike in tuition fees and officials at the Private Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Youth (MoEY) are expecting the number of applicants seeking a fee hike to almost double.

According to relevant sources, schools which put forward their applications for the increase in tuition fees should have clearly stated the reasons for the increase in fees which they are seeking, but which were fixed by the Ministry of Education and Youth against educational services or new activities created by the school management to the building or its facilities such as swimming pool, modern laboratories and so on.

As per the rules and regulations laid down, any increase should not be more than 20 per cent from the last. The increase, the source said, should have been made since three lapsed years.

The application should be submitted to the administration of the Zone, which subsequently forwards it to the Ministry of Education and Youth for action.

The application, the source said, would be looked into and studied by a committee to be formed and consists of a member from the Private Education Department at the educational zone. The committee would visit the school to see for itself whether the institution is justified in increasing the fees or not. The committee would do so by filling in a form of standards.

A big private school in Sharjah has already increased its tuition fees by Dh500 and has informed the student and parents before obtaining approval from the Ministry of Education.

The school administration justified the measure saying that the rent of the building had increased this year.

An official at the Ministry of Education said the increase was not justified, and would not be considered. The school administration had no right to inform the parents before getting consent of the ministry, the source added.