Complaints about the school fee freeze in Dubai? See the regulator

DUBAI // Schools that have problems complying with an emirate-wide freeze on fee increases can complain to federal authorities about Dubai's regulator, the education minister said yesterday. He also said it did not make sense to impose fee caps on older community schools, which he said may "go bankrupt" if they adhere to the limits. His comments highlight what appears to be a growing rift between the Ministry of Education and the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), which oversees Dubai's schools.

"If you are a private school and I'm a local authority, and we have a dispute, we have to refer to the relevant departments," said Humaid al Qattami, the Minister of Education. "This is the [ministry's] mandate." The KHDA warned schools last month that fees would be frozen next year as a result of poor economic conditions. Exceptions would be considered only in cases in which schools need to relocate.

Though Mr al Qattami did not explicitly say the MoE would overrule decisions by the KHDA to freeze fees, seven schools run by GEMS and Taaleem, the UAE's two largest educational operators, were granted permission to increase their fees earlier this month. The decisions apparently overruled the KHDA's regulations. Mr al Qattami also said imposing fee caps on older community schools risked bankrupting institutions that have served large Dubai populations for a long time.

He would not say how many schools had approached the ministry requesting fee increases, but said that some felt "their valuation, prices and costs are not fair relative to the market", especially when they are being asked to improve. "Some schools that have fees of Dh3,000 [per year], for example, say 'now you tell me I can increase fees by only five or seven or 10 per cent. If I go from Dh3,000 to Dh3,200. What will that do for me?'

"How can you tell them not to increase [fees]? They will go bankrupt." The spectre of school closures was raised by the GEMS chairman, Sunny Varkey, in a letter to Dr Abdulla al Karam, the director general of the KHDA, in March. GEMS, which was one of the loudest opponents of a freeze on fees, did not respond to a request for comment. GEMS officials argued that low fees meant they could not retain high-quality teachers, who would be paid more at expensive schools.

Mr Varkey also suggested that performance may not be sufficient to fairly determine how much institutions are allowed to raise their fees. "What are the measures that I am looking at for the increase? Whether you are rated 'good' or not, two people might disagree on that." Normally, fee increases at Dubai schools are linked to their performance in inspections by the KHDA. A team created by the ministry will complete an evaluation of regulations of the private school system by the middle of June.

The KHDA did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. [e-mail]