SPEA approves 5% maximum fees increase for academic year 2023-2024

The SPEA announced that the decision does not include schools with an evaluation below “acceptable.”

This comes to set the framework for increasing fees and linking them to the quality of education and service provided by private schools in the Emirate. 

The recommendations also came based on educational outcomes based on school control reports, indicators and standards of student quality of life, satisfaction percentage, school performance and academic achievement.

This also included the factors affecting school fees, including inflation rates, the increase in utilities prices, the operational cost of the educational institution, and the rate of economic growth in the Emirate.

Fees are regulated in private schools in Sharjah based on the framework, which links the evaluation of each private school with the percentage specified for adjusting fees for the next year. 

Private schools that have an “excellent” rating are entitled to raise their fees to a maximum of 5%, while schools that have a “very good” rating can raise their fees by 3.75%. As for those who get a “good” rating, they can raise their fees by 2.5%, and those who get an “acceptable” rating are entitled to raise fees by 1.25%. On the other hand, schools that were evaluated as weak or very weak, they are not entitled to raise their fees.

The authority stated that schools that meet the conditions are entitled to submit a request to raise their fees every two academic years, provided that the submission is through a dedicated platform in the authority.

The application is studied after receiving it based on the results of performance evaluation and in proportion to the rate of economic inflation and other documents and justifications provided by schools to support the request, and accordingly the request will be approved or rejected.

These percentages were adopted within several tracks, including the evaluation mechanisms that followed the field visits that the authority implemented for private schools to determine their levels, and to know the areas of need for improvement and the strengths to build upon and improve the quality of their outputs on the one hand, and to determine the issue of raising fees or what is preventing them according to the results of the evaluation. In addition the authority seeks to achieve a balance in school fees in a way that guarantees its right and does not constitute a burden on parents.