More than 40 per cent of parents pay less than Dh18,000 in Dubai private school fees

Official data shows nearly 10,000 new pupils enrolled in private schools last year

• 

  Dubai schools reopened for the previous school year with strict protocols in place to reduce the chances of Covid-19 transmission. Shruti Jain / The National

• 

  Thousands of teachers and staff working at private schools in Dubai were screened for Covid-19 before the start of the last academic year. Photo: Dubai Health Authority

• 

  Pupils in Year 2 and above are required to wear masks in school. Victor Besa / The National

• 

  Pupils also remain socially distanced in the classrooms and classes are not allowed to mix. Shruti Jain / The National

• 

  Parents are encouraged to report any exposure to Covid-19 immediately. Shruti Jain / The National

• 

  Social bubbles reduce the chance of transmission in schools. Shruti Jain / The National

• 

  Sanitising schools throughout the day has become common since the coronavirus pandemic began. Antonie Robertson / The National

• 

  Pupils have allocated seats on school buses to make it easier to track and trace close contacts of Covid cases. Satish Kumar / The National

More than four in 10 parents of pupils at private schools in Dubai pay less than Dh18,000 ($4,900) in fees every year, a report published by the regulator of schools in the emirate has found.

Data from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority shows only 9 per cent of parents pay more than Dh75,000 while another 22 per cent pay between Dh18,000 and Dh35,000.

The average school fee in the city’s private schools was Dh29,057 in 2019, with 51 per cent of parents paying less than Dh20,000 in fees.

Dubai registered an increase in the number of pupils going to private school – from 279,191 in the autumn of 2020 to 289,019 this year.

In 2019, there were 295,148 children enrolled at the city’s 208 schools.

In March this year, two new Dubai schools with fees starting from Dh29,900 received more than 2,000 applicants a day after the government announced their launch.

Private schools in Dubai did not increase fees for the 2021-22 academic year, the second consecutive year that fees remained steady.

Many schools in the emirate offered discounts to parents during the Covid-19 pandemic, while some institutions restructured their fees to reduce the economic burden on parents.

Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director general of KHDA, said: "The growth in pupil enrolment shows the confidence that parents have in the ability of Dubai schools to provide high-quality education in all circumstances.

"The sustained development of the emirate’s school sector reflects the energy, resilience and dynamism that Dubai has been able to maintain.

"Consistent with the Expo 2020 theme of opportunity, our education sector continues to offer families and investors new possibilities.”

UK curriculum schools teach the majority of pupils, with more than 102,000 children. Another 75,592 pupils are enrolled at Indian schools, while 45,051 study at American schools.

There are 20,224 teachers working in the emirate. The report revealed that almost half of all teachers in Dubai were under 40 years old, with India, the UK and Egypt making up the top three nationalities.