17 Schools Fined For Unautherised Fee Hikes

Seventeen private schools in Abu Dhabi have been fined for non-compliance with the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) school fees structure it was announced today, by UAE newspaper, Gulf News.

ADEC's Private School and Quality Assurance department confirmed there had been issues concerning fee structures in 17 schools in the Emirate. The council went on to note, that it had issued fines and warning letters to the schools involved. Although the council has refused to name the private schools, it did issue a statement on how the irregularities were found.

A statement issued by ADEC said, “The (tampering) was detected by means of various inspection and compliance visits, and by comparing receipts, sent to the ADEC by parents, that showed that the fees did not match the approved schedule."

ADEC grants schools approval to increase fees based on compliance with certain criteria, these include: an improvement in ranking, a focus on teacher salary and development and various programmes for Emirati Nationals.

Hamad Al Daheri, executive director of private schools and quality assurance at ADEC said,“If a school meets at least one of these criteria and has had no fee hike or violations in the previous academic year, it can apply for an increase. Some criteria, of course, are weighted differently from others, and these are all considered before a decision is made.”