• Home

Indian schools more keen on fee hike, say parents

A parent, S. A. T, said that he had yet to come across any other community school in the country, other than Indian, to have announced a raise in their tuition fees.

"Many private Indian schools and a few international curriculum schools in the country are taking advantage of a recent relaxation in the fee hike policy by the Ministry of Education and Youth," he said, urging the ministry to look into the trend.

Another parent (who did not want to be identified) whose child studies in Indian High School, Dubai, said that the trend of hiking the fees had also affected schools such as IHS which is a purely non-profit school.

"It came as a surprise to me to receive a circular from the school announcing a 20 per cent fee hike from the new academic year, beginning next month ," he said.

Around 45 private schools in the country have been allowed by the ministry to raise their fees, while 12 more, which applied for a raise in tuition fees, are awaiting approval. Parents believe that the hike in fees, particularly by the Indian schools that have already implemented or have applied for, was to keep pace with their competitors and not to be left out in the 'rat race'.

But, teachers, argued that the fee hike was necessary due to increasing operational costs and the strict criteria laid down in the Federal Private Education Bylaws issued by the ministry to meet high standards of education.

Some Indian school managements blamed the Varkey Group for pioneering the recent fee hike move, thus forcing other private schools to raise their fees to match the standards and facilities offered by the Varkey Group schools.

The Filipino schools in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, when contacted, said they had no plans to apply for a fee hike.

"We already pay our teachers the basic salary stipulated by the ministry and adhere to all guidelines," said principal of PISCO Private School in Abu Dhabi.

An official of Pakistan Education Academy in Dubai voiced concern on the fee hike trend in schools, saying, his school had no plans to raise the tuition fees as the parents are already burdened with the education costs of their children.

"Our students come from middle- and low income groups and we cannot think of burdening them further."

Nasseer Ahmad, Principal of His Highness Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum School, Dubai, said that his school would also refrain from hiking the fees, expressing fear that the school would lose out on children if they revise their fee structure.

"Increase in teachers' basic salary in schools cannot be linked to a raise in tuition fees," he said.

Schools could cut costs on several fronts to absorb some of the escalating expenses, said Mr Ahmed, who is managing the school's operations purely from the revenue generated by tuition fees.

However, justifying the fee hike move, several principals of Indian schools said that the Pakistani and Filipino schools were not faced with stiff competitions and they could choose not to raise their fees.

"Since we have to compete with a large number of Indian schools in the country, a fee hike is inevitable," said K. N. N. Pillai, the principal of Sharjah Indian School.

The school is considering a fee hike in the 2004-2005 academic year when the school turns into a one-shift one and opens a new block with some 70 new classrooms.

Ashok Kumar, the principal of IHS, Dubai, catering to some 9,000 students, said: "Our school gives the greatest priority to the interests of the student community and has made an effort to keep the fee structure among the lowest in the region despite many compulsions."

• UAE