8 things to know about Dubai's new school fees system

Dubai - The framework will come into effect from academic year 2019-2020.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, on Monday approved a new framework to regulate school fees.

It takes into account parents' interests and efforts to obtain education at an acceptable price, while encouraging the advancement of private schools.

Here are the key takeaways from yesterday's announcement:

1. The framework takes into account the interests of students and their parents, as they are the beneficiaries of educational services.

2. The framework will come into effect as of the academic year 2019-2020.

3. According to the School Fees Framework, private profitable schools in which the quality of education is declining as assessed by Dubai School Inspection Bureau will not be allowed to increase their fees.

4. Private profitable schools which maintain their ranking (evaluation) will be allowed to increase their fees by the same value of the education cost index.

5. As per the quality of education index in Dubai private schools over the past years, about 90 per cent of students are not likely to have their fees increased (in the upcoming academic year 2019-2020) by more than the value of education cost index estimated at 2.07 per cent, meaning that only 10 per cent of students will have their school fees increased by more 2.07 per cent.

6. Accordingly, private schools whose ranking will be improved from Very Good to Outstanding will be allowed to increase their fees by 1.5 times of the education cost index value. Schools whose assessment moves from Good to Very good will be allowed to increase their fees by 1.75 times, while schools which move from very weak category to weak or from weak to acceptable will be allowed to increase their fees by 2.07 times.

7. In 2018, the Dubai Statistics Center has valued the education cost index at 2.07. Accordingly, eligible private schools will be allowed to modify their school fees for the upcoming academic year, according to the latest assessment of Dubai School Inspection Bureau, which will be announced later in the current academic year.

8. As for the fees for non-educational services, such as school transportation, uniforms and school supplies, which are not included in the school fees, and taking into account the interests of parents, the KHDA proposed regulating any increase in these services in coordination with the concerned authorities.