Before the US-Iran war began, Sumit Augustine's weekly grocery bill ran to about Dh150 ($41). Now it's Dh300, as the conflict is affecting shipping costs and the supply of goods across the Gulf.
“It would only be natural for the school expenses to increase, too,” the mother of a 10-year-old told The National.
Ms Augustine has budgeted accordingly – locking in tuition and transport costs early, then hunting for deals on everything from school bags to stationery - but her experience is one version of a story playing out in households across the UAE as the new school year approaches.
The conflict's disruption to Red Sea and Gulf shipping routes has added complexity to an already pressured back-to-school season. Retailers have worked to absorb the turbulence rather than pass it on to consumers.
Ashish Sood, chief supply chain officer at Landmark Group – which operates Centrepoint, Max Fashion and Emax – says inventory was committed months ahead of the season, with the group's Jebel Ali hub, which is capable of processing 300 million items annually, providing the operational flexibility to navigate shifting logistics.
“Customers should not have to deal with the complexity happening behind the scenes. Our focus is on making sure families can still find what they need for the new school year, at the value and quality they expect.”
Even so, some cost pressures have persisted. Ayat Adam, an Abu Dhabi mother preparing three children – aged seven, six and two – for the new year, has felt the pressure. “The prices really increased – the school uniform shirt was for Dh63 last year, this year it costs around Dh83.”
Her total back-to-school outlay so far stands at about Dh4,700, with a tablet purchase of approximately Dh1,300 still ahead and about Dh2,400 for extra-curricular activities for two children to follow. “The prices are dramatically increasing on everything while the income remains the same,” she said.
The conflict has also affected access to specialist equipment. For Niishhka Manglani, whose 15-year-old son is a student of determination, the most significant back-to-school cost this year is a standing frame at around Dh7,500. Sourcing it has been harder than in previous years.
“For us, because the therapy and equipment costs are so significant, everything else doesn't hurt us as much on the pocket. Equipment costs were already high but they are now higher because stock is limited and new [stock] isn't coming in as quickly.”
In addition to the standing frame, her family is managing therapy fees not covered by insurance, private tutoring for a pivotal year of IB assessment, and the logistics of accessible classrooms.
Uniforms add to the pressure
Uniform costs are their own closed system. Dubai mother Zubia Khan spent about Dh1,000 per child – for three children – on uniforms alone, not including shoes or accessories. Meanwhile, bus fares have increase to “Dh2,700 per term, two-way, and we live in the same neighbourhood as the school”. Bags and stationery for all three have added about Dh1,000.
Matthew Benjamin, founder of the sustainable uniform provider Kapes, believes prices are unlikely to fall. “Costs have gone up, which typically results in higher prices. However, the uniform industry is an artificial market. Suppliers buy as low as possible and sell extremely high; there is no price competition once under contract. So, although margins might be impacted, they are so high that it can be absorbed.”
For parents seeking an alternative route, he suggests “buying second-hand where possible”.
There is no advice I can really give, because parents can only buy from the exclusive supplier. Every year parents complain about prices, but the market is the market, and prices will continue to rise over time.”
Circularity and savviness
Research by Naseej, the UAE's national initiative for textile circularity, shows families are ready for the system to change. Some 43 per cent of consumers surveyed want recycled materials in school uniforms; 42 per cent want mandatory multi-set requirements abolished; and 29 per cent support school-led pass-down services, a figure that rises to 39 per cent among Emirati families.
Rodayna Ramez, a Canadian resident in Abu Dhabi and mother of three, tries to live by principles of circularity as much as possible. “With three kids, I pass uniforms down whenever they are still in good shape. It saves us a fortune on back-to-school shopping, and it gets the kids thinking twice before throwing perfectly good things away. It also teaches them to value what they have instead of always wanting brand new stuff, which we know as parents is a huge problem.”
Shraddha Barot Amariei, an entrepreneur with daughters aged three and seven, has also become more savvy. She’s held on to last year's uniforms, chosen complimentary school extra-curricular activities over paid ones and enrolled her younger daughter in a smaller nursery to help offset her older daughter's fees.
“Thankfully, some of the retail offers this year are really helping, though our income as a household is drastically affected this year, so even small expenses we are being very careful about.”
Shaheera Anwar, whose six year old starts Grade 1, repurposed unused stationery, skipped a uniform upgrade and kept her total under Dh500. “Uniforms cost at least Dh500 anyway and just saving that has been great.”
School fees are the main culprit
For most families, the weight of back-to-school spending rests less on geopolitics than the school fees themselves. Jola Chudy, a British PR consultant in Downtown Dubai, spent around Dh600 on replacement uniform items for her 12-year-old son this year.
“Honestly, as any parent in the UAE will say, it is always the school fees. We were very lucky that his father's work covered two terms per year of the school fees – at Dh25,298 per term, it's one of the more 'reasonably' priced top-tier British schools, but education is the big expense after rent or mortgage for most families and school fees take quite the dent.”
A recent survey by global financial technology platform Adyen of more than 2,800 UAE parents found 88 per cent feel financial strain when fees fall due, and half struggle to pay the full amount upfront.
Annual tuition at top-rated Dubai private schools runs from approximately Dh30,000 to over Dh110,000 per child per year. Transport, uniforms, devices and extra-curricular activities add a further Dh10,000 to Dh30,000, said Adyen’s head of the Middle East, Daumantas Grigaravicius.
“School fees represent one of the largest recurring household expenses for many families in the UAE, and for many parents, the challenge isn't just the total amount but the fact that it is often collected through only a few large lump-sum payments across the school year,” he said. “Where there’s room to improve for education providers is in how those fees are collected.
“Most schools still operate on a two or three-installment model. That structure hasn’t evolved with how families manage their finances today, and it creates pressure on both sides. Parents face cash-flow disruption at certain intervals, and schools deal with late payments and administrative complexity that a more flexible collection model could reduce.”
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority's decision to freeze private school fees in Dubai for the 2026-27 academic year is a welcome development – though everything around the fees also continues to rise.
