Dubai School Fees Set for Maximum Increase

The good news - more schools than ever achieved the outstanding grade from the KHDA. The bad news? Because of that more schools than ever plan to increase their school fees by the maximum allowed.

If you have yet to hear from you child's school, chances are it has yet to receive the necessary confirmation from the KHDA: Schools cannot inform parents of increases until they receive an official letter from the authority setting out their revised fee structure.

Schools receive increases based on an education cost index as well as the grade that the KHDA awarded them during inspections. Outstanding schools are allowed an increase of up to six per cent, schools assessed as good get up to 4.5 per cent, and those in the acceptable and unsatisfactory category can ask for a 3 per cent increase.

So far around 40 percent of all private schools have applied to hike their fees for next year - fifty-four of the 138 private schools in the emirate. They will not be the only ones.

If your children go to school in Dubai, prepare to start shelling out more.

Schools have 30 days from the announcement of their inspection results to register their interest in increasing fees for the 2012-2013 academic year.

"As long as their requirement is in line with the fee framework, they will be granted an approval to change their fees," said Mohammed Darwish, chief of the KHDA's regulations and compliance commission told UAE newspaper, the National.