Parents fume over school fee increase in Dubai

Dubai: Parents are miffed at the decision to allow Dubai private schools to increase fees. School officials, while welcoming the move, said it falls short of expectations and does not help them meet the costs of running these institutions.

The education regulator’s green signal on Thursday to raise fees for the third time in four years has met with disapproval from many parents facing a cash crunch as living costs continue to rise.

Fee increase in the emirate is determined by the Education Cost Index (ECI), which is calculated every year by Dubai Statistics Centre. This year, it has been set at 2.92 per cent by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), allowing ‘outstanding’ schools to increase fees by as much as 5.84 per cent.

Calling the fee increase a ‘cost adjustment’, the regulator says the new ECI will help balance the expectations of parents and schools. “The fees framework balances the needs of schools and parents,” explained Mohammed Darwish, Chief of Regulations and Permits Commission at KHDA.

The senior official further explained, “We are witnessing steady growth within the education sector, leading to increased stability. The ECI is directly linked to inflation and an increased cost in living.”

According to the KHDA’s Fee Framework, outstanding schools are eligible to raise fees by up to double the ECI, good schools are eligible for up to 1.5 times and the rest can increase 2.92 per cent.

School operators in Dubai welcomed the decision but called on the education regulator to revise the existing fee framework to allow for greater fee increases.

Speaking to Khaleej Times Dinesh Kothari, Pro Vice Chairman of Delhi Private School said, “All schools are facing increased costs as school operators. Utility costs have increased significantly over the last two years — especially with electricity and water rates increasing. Maintenance costs for older schools are also significantly more.”

 “We are of the belief that there should be slab system where schools with lesser fees can also benefit significantly from the framework, provided they reinvest substantial part of the increase to improve quality.”

Clive Pierrepont, Director of Communications at Taaleem, also voiced concerns with the existing fee increase framework.

 “Although we welcome this news, it must be realised that our annual inflation costs range between 5 and 10 per cent and this does not take into account any further investment, or any package increases. Between 70 to 80 per cent of our costs are taken up by staffing; when trying to attract the very best of talent to our schools we are also subject not just to local inflationary pressures but to global ones.”

He also pointed that the cost of recruiting teachers has increased in recent years, with housing allowances now standard in the pay packages.

“We have just awarded our teachers a Dh15,000 increase in allowances per annum to try and keep pace with the rent rises in Dubai’s market; this has had a major impact on our operational costs,” explained Clive.

Most parents Khaleej Times spoke to did not give their names and said the the latest increase is unfair and does not take into account the stress on finances.

Dinesh Thakur (name changed) has a 13-year-old daughter in Grade 7. He believes “schools in Dubai are run like businesses, and the main agenda is profit, not education.”

“Schools keep increasing the fees on some pretext or the other. It’s even more expensive than the US or Europe. The schools here need to have some kind of cap. We already pay about Dh56,000 per annum for grade 7. Every month her fees is Dh5,000, but we pay more for the school bus, extra-curricular activities and so on. I’m paying Dh70-75,000 a year, close to $20,000.”

muaz@khaleejtimes.com

With inputs from Nivriti Butalia