Govt cracks the whip: Schools face closure for fleecing parents

The Ministry of Education has warned several schools in the Kingdom with severe penalties for increasing fees using various excuses including increase in transportation charges.
According to reports in the local press, several private schools have increased their fees by about 45 percent. The ministry had rejected their applications to increase the fees on grounds that they did not meet the requisite conditions.
These schools had secured signed statements from the parents of schoolchildren that they could increase the fees. Other schools resorted to increasing transportation charges by as much as 100 percent as a ruse to charge extra.
These actions are against the regulations of the Private Schools Draft, which was approved by the Shoura Council, which clearly states that private schools can’t raise their fees during scholastic year. Increase in fees should be intimated four months in advance and should be in accordance with specified rules and classifications.
The ministry has received several applications from various schools to increase schools fees, and had allowed more than 1,100 private schools to do so which met the required conditions. The punishment for schools that do not comply varies with the harshest penalty being closure.
Sources said the ministry was committed to maintaining standard and ensuring that rules framed for private schools are adhered to. The most important of these are educational costs, buildings, equipment, furniture, safety procedures, number of pupils in each class, number of teachers, number of administrative posts, curricular, student extracurricular activities and so on.