School fee hikes based on studies

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) has confirmed that it is committed to ensuring quality education is provided across the emirate, but not at the expense of parents' abilities to pay for school tuition. Yousuf Al Sheryani, Executive Director of the Private Education and Quality Assurance Sector at Adec, said: "Any approval granted for increases in school fees are only done once the council has determined the schools who submitted the requests complied with criteria, including the ability of parents to afford the increase, the performance level of the school as well as comparing the increase requested to those that have taken place." Global standards He also noted that a checklist of global standards prepared by a panel of experts from Adec was used during the decision process. Additionally, any increase in school fees will not be approved unless they are compliant with legal procedures and the provision of the laws and regulations based on the Ministerial Council law number 29, year 2008, and the Decree No.14 in the year 2008 of General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, who is also chairman of Adec. "The other factors we took into consideration was that schools needed to enhance their facilities as well as training and hiring of staff to provide a high level of quality that we constantly aim for," Al Sheryani. Forty private schools in Abu Dhabi had fee hikes approved this academic year, on average 6.6 per cent for tuition, 5.3 per cent for books, 0.7 per cent for uniforms and 12.3 per cent for transport.