Private schools’ application to increase tuition fees rejected

The Ministry of Education has rejected the applications of a number of private schools seeking permission to increase their yearly tuition fees. The bar is set to remain in place for a period of two years. Official sources at the ministry said that such rejections of applications were made in 75% of cases where schools had applied for fee increases, meaning that the fees of more than 2,500 private schools will stay fixed for two years. The source said the decision applies to both day and night-time private and foreign schools. The branch committee is due to consider the complaints submitted by the students' parents regarding any increases on the school fees for institutions whose applications were accepted. The education department in the region will determine whether the increases are fitting or need to be dropped, and will similarly take any other necessary procedures in this regard. The branch committees will also be responsible for completing all other tasks related to school grades, the results of the National Center for measurement and evaluation tests, quality certificates and accreditation, the job nationalization ratio and other issues. The Ministry of Education set the end of this month as the deadline to electronically submit applications to increase the school fees via the electronic program for tuition fees. The registration process will end on the 28th of this month, when the processing of applications will start. The preparatory committee at the ministry will electronically receive the applications from the education departments and will embark on considering them until 13 Jamadil Akhir. Complaints will continue to be received from 25th of the next month until 11th of Rajab. No applications will be considered after this date. There are 600,000 male and female students studying in private and foreign schools across the Kingdom. The ministry has also revealed that the cost to teach one student at a government school stands at SR20,000 per year. -arabnews