Dubai has capped the hike in school fee for private schools in Dubai at 2.07 percent, and about 90 percent of private schools would be incorporating this in the coming academic year 2019-2020. This is as per the value of education cost index approved by the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC).
Dubai announced a freeze in private school fees last year, and this week, the Dubai Executive Council has approved the new framework to regulate school fees for the coming years, as per the proposal put forth by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).
The new regulations said that schools that maintain their KHDA ranking for the year 2018-19 can increase their fees by a maximum of 2.07 percent.
This School Fees Framework was also developed based on feedback from parents and educational service providers in the annual assessment by the Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB).
The goal is to diversify education options for parents and allow them access to affordable, high quality, educational services.
Once implemented, the regulation does not allow private profitable schools experiencing a decline in quality of education to increase their fees. However, if they maintain their ranking, they will be allowed to increase their fees by the same value of education cost index.
If their ranking improves from very good to outstanding, they can increase their fees by 1.5 times of the education cost index value. If their assessment moves from good to very good, they can increase by 1.75 and schools which move from very weak to weak or from weak to acceptable can increase their fees by 2.07.
In the year 2018, the Dubai Statistics Centre has valued the education cost index at 2.07 and accordingly, eligible private schools can modify their school fees for the upcoming academic year, based on the latest assessment by Dubai School Inspection Bureau, to be announced later in the current academic year.
As for the fees for non-educational services, including school transportation, uniforms and school supplies, that are not included in the school fees, and taking into consideration he interests of parents, the KHDA proposed regulating any increase in these services in co-ordination with the concerned authorities.
