Expatriate parents usually prefer to have their children educated in private schools in Dubai. There are state schools as well, but since teaching is in Arabic, there is no possibility for English-speaking students to attend, unless they learn the language. In addition, admission of expatriate children may be bound with some restrictions. Finding a school for your kids in Dubai will not be hard. There are plenty of private educational institutions to select from. You should consider the teaching quality they offer as well as the facilities they have. It is worth paying specific attention to the tuition fees also.
Just like most things in Dubai, education is expensive. Parents can expect to pay anywhere between 5,000 Dhs and 100,000 Dhs per annum in the form of tuition fees. Still, very few institutions have fees in the higher end. Most expensive schools charge between 70,000 Dhs and 90,000 Dhs for tuition. You should not despair if these sums seem too large for you. You have to take into account the fact that the maintenance of facilities is also included in these costs, so you can readily pay less for a more modest school with very good teaching quality but no swimming pool, for instance.
It should be noted that tuition fees usually do not include a wide range of other expenses that parents have to incur. Books and uniforms are paid separately. This is applicable to school transport as well. You have to pay separately for field trips, any equipment necessary for sports practice or for playing a musical instrument. These expenses can add quite a lot to the over cost of the education of your child. When you are researching the different options, you should definitely ask the institutions for an estimate of the overall cost. Most of them will readily offer a spreadsheet with an estimate of how much you will have to pay for everything.
Another important point to note is that private schools in Dubai charge applications or admissions fees. These are different names for one and the same thing. You will have to pay a certain sum when you apply to enroll your child. According to the educational authorities in Dubai, the sum should be no higher than 500 Dhs, even though some private educational institutions charge two or even three times that much. This sum is deducted from tuition fees if the child is enrolled, but if a place is offered and rejected, the school retains it. Given all this, you should decide carefully where to apply and to how many places.
The local educational authorities in Dubai have imposed a freeze on the tuition fees for the academic year 2010-2011, unless the school is found to have grounds for increasing them. Despite this, many educational institutions have gained permission from the UAE Ministry of Education to do so. This means that you have to check explicitly for any changes in the fees of your child’s school.
Another thing to consider is that these payments are not supposed to be made before the start of the school year, so you have some time to consider your budget and make some calculations on costs.
