Many parents say no to reservation fees

A number of parents with children attending private schools were against the reservation fees schools charge every new academic year.

Many also said that the tuition fees do not match the quality of education their children received.

In a survey carried out by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) across the emirate last academic year, 38 per cent of the 50,398 parent respondents have kids studying in private schools. Of these, 45.87 per cent have indicated that “they disagree with school demands for paying part of the tuition fees in advance to secure seats for their children in the new school year.”

On the level of satisfaction with tuition fees compared to the quality of education their children receive in private schools, only 56.22 per cent of parents said that they are satisfied.

“I disagree with having to pay Dh9,000 just to reserve seats for my kids,” said one parent about a British school in town. The couple later opted to enrol their two children at another British school that did not charge them fees in advance yet offer quality education. They said they are happy with the school, which their children now attend for two years.

The Adec survey, which was largely responded to by parents of public school pupils, has asked them of their opinion on the quality of the curriculum.

Of the 50,398 respondents, 75.63 per cent of parents said “they noticed improvement in student English skills. Results (therefore) showed that 72.73 per cent of parents are satisfied with curriculum quality. Of the Adec’s teaching and learning in general, 65 per cent of parents indicated that they strongly agree with the teaching and learning strategies currently applied by the Adec.

In general, parents are satisfied with the level of communication between schools and parents.

“However, 80 per cent of parents revealed that schools only communicate with them when their children are in breach of rules.” About managing and monitoring student behaviour by schools, parents’ satisfaction levels were 77 per cent and 78 per cent respectively.

Parent satisfaction level on prompt intervention by the school to address problems, such as student violence, was 74 per cent.

However, 23 per cent of parents are less satisfied with the school’s role in monitoring and managing student behaviour and in addressing unwanted behaviour such as recently-emerging student violence.

Other issues responded to by the parents include satisfaction/dissatisfaction on teacher performance, student progress, national and international assessments, learning environment and school facilities, transportation, teaching in general and teaching of Math and Science in English in particular, promoting national culture and Arabic, homework, curricular and extracurricular activities, parent involvement in school decision making, academic and career guidance and special needs support.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com