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Ministry of Education may Review Fee Hikes

DUBAI - Tuition fee increases for the next academic year are expected to be reviewed due to the global financial meltdown that has had repercussions in the UAE.

However, education officials may not be keen on a fee hike due to the economic downturn. The officials said any fee hike would be nominal.

A number of private schools also anticipate large student withdrawals when schools close for the summer with many expatriates planning to be back in their home countries.

“We are committed to the new by-laws we established recently. We are, however, open to reviewing them. Fees would be determined by supply and demand,” said Rashid Al Nuaimi, Director General at the Ministry of Education, which set fee increases to be between 10 and 30 per cent.

“We are looking at new regulations, which will be announced in January or may be earlier,” said Mohammed Darwish, Chief of Licensing and Partner Relations, from Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) that capped the maximum allowable rise at 16 per cent for the academic years 2007 and 2008. Though the emirate’s education authorities declined to disclose further information, education sources indicated the recession would be a major factor that would determine increases, if any at all.

Officials are working on a fee structure and in fact it will be announced earlier than usual. Given the new global circumstances, the recession will be kept in mind,” said a source close to the authority. Another source even suggested the authority may not announce any increases for the new academic year.

They also said with the emirate announcing regulations as early as January instead of the customary March was a further indication of their acknowledgement of the crisis.

Schools, on the other hand, have already received requests for withdrawals while others anticipate them in early 2009. “There have been a few cases of families who have withdrawn their children from a few of our schools, as they plan to move on from Dubai due to job transfers and redundancies; however the number of cases has been lower than expected,” said Clive Pierrepont, Director of Marketing and Communications at Taaleem schools.

“We did have a good response to registration for the new year. However, we definitely anticipate withdrawals and will know the actual response by February,” said Vandana Marwaha, principal of Delhi Private School, Sharjah.

Indian High School’s principal and CEO, Ashok Kumar, maintained that the end of year withdrawals remained similar to last year.

Gems network, that owns institutions ranging from mid-range to premium schools, also said enrolments at Gems schools across the UAE “have shown little impact in light of the changing global economic conditions.”

“As a network of schools in a country with a majority expatriate population it is normal to have a turnover of students as parents move jobs or location,” a statement from the school read.

“However, the turnover this year is consistent with trends in previous years. In addition, our waiting lists remain strong and our schools have full rolls.”

Senior school officials however conceded they were keeping their fingers crossed and hoped withdrawals would not be drastic.

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