Dubai: Private schools can introduce hikes in school fees ranging from 2.4% to 4.8% next academic year (2017-18), depending on their inspection rating, Dubai’s school regulator said on Sunday.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) said the Dubai Statistics Centre (DSC) has set the new annual Education Cost Index (ECI) at 2.4 per cent.
According to KHDA’s Fees Framework, outstanding schools will be eligible for an "adjustment" of up to double the ECI, very good schools are eligible for up to 1.75 times the amount, good schools are eligible for 1.5 times the amount, and rest are allowed an increase equivalent to the ECI.
The ECI takes into account school operating costs, which include teacher salaries, rent, maintenance, electricity and water charges, among a basket of other commodities.
For this school year, 18 private schools have been deemed "outstanding" by the KHDA.
For the current school year (2016-17), the ECI had been set at 3.21 per cent, it was announced in February last year.
School rating Maximum fee hike:
Outstanding 4.8 per cent
Very Good 4.2 per cent
Good 3.6 per cent
Acceptable 2.4 per cent
Weak 2.4 per cent
Very Weak 2.4 per cent