The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has granted permission to 60 private schools in the emirate to hike fees in the next academic year.

Thirty-one of the schools are from Abu Dhabi, 24 from Al Ain and five from the Western Region. Of these, 18 are following the Ministry of Education curriculum; 19 UK and US curricula; nine are the International Baccalaureate, French, Canadian and Japanese schools; and 14 are Asian schools.

The ADEC has approved an average increase of 6.6 per cent in tuition fees, while the permitted hike in fees for books, transportation and uniform averages 5.3 per cent, 12.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively. It is not clear what is the maximum increase granted by the ADEC to some of the schools. Last year, the council allowed up to 20 per cent increase.

Brian Fox Division, division manager for the private school licensing and accreditation at the ADEC, said, “School applications are considered on their individual merit.”

According to the ADEC, the average requests for increase in tuition fees ranged between 5 per cent and 208 per cent; while 5 per cent to 339 per cent hike was requested in book fees, 10 per cent to 129 per cent in transportation fees and 5 per cent to 371 per cent hike in uniform fees.

Early this year, the ADEC implemented a formalised process in accepting and granting requests for fee increases. This includes filling in a request form and submitting it within a certain period — March for Asian schools and April for schools following the standard September-June calendar. Schools also need to present a compelling case justifying their request.

The new procedure takes into account several factors, including the planned improvements and investments the schools need to fund, the schools educational performance, the financial position of the school and the history of its fee increases and 
the ability of parents to afford the increases.

With the new application process, the ADEC can now check if schools were charging fees that were above those approved by the council or previously by the MoE.

“Several schools that were overcharging were required to reimburse parents or sometimes provide fee credit for next year,” said Fox.

Asked how long before a school can ask for another increase, Fox said, “School fee increases are sometimes approved to last for a two-year or a three-year period.”

By Olivia Olarte

© Khaleej Times 2011