KHDA Reiterates No School Fee Tampering

Yesterday, the KHDA, Dubai’s education regulator, released a statement reiterating its commitment to monitoring and penalising any schools which are found tampering with their fee structure.

Mohammed Darwish, KHDA Chief of Regulations and Permits Commission said, “KHDA is in the process of regulating all the costs currently incurred by the parents at Dubai’s private schools.”

“As always, no extra fees can be introduced by schools without KHDA’s prior approval,” he said.

The response comes after several schools in the Emirate had been found applying additional fees to their KHDA pre-approved fee structure.

However, parents still remain unclear as to what these additional fees might include. “We seem to be continually sending money for theatre groups visiting the school, school trips, after-school activities, book clubs, teachers’ gifts and more,” said mum Salwa.

“Does this mean in future we’ll see significantly less laid-on for our children or just one lump sum to cover the lot? At least now we can see where the money goes and we pay throughout the year,” she said.

The Authority noted in the statement that in situations where schools require approval for any services they are currently offering, they should continue to offer these uninterrupted until the cost is verified and KHDA approval is obtained.

The statement is understood to be in response to the news that several schools have been found in the Emirate with fee related irregularities.

Darwish reiterated that every school must obtain KHDA approval on any fees they are either currently charging or planning to introduce in the future.

He went on to add, “KHDA does not tolerate such behavior and has been imposing punitive actions on schools that have continued the fee related non-adherences.”