JEDDAH: The increase in school fees has caused parents to remove their children from private schools and enroll them in public schools in Madinah.

With the approaching new school year, many parents were surprised to find that school fees were increased 25 percent, especially in intermediate and high schools. Fees start from SR13,000 for primary school, SR16,000 for intermediate and SR18,000 for high school.

A number of school principals in Madinah said the next scholastic year is witnessing the registration of many pupils from primary schools. Public schools are experiencing a massive increase in the number of children registering for admission, especially at the primary level. Schools haven’t seen this rush for many years, saying the reasons behind it are the increased school fees.

Khalid Al-Ahmad said schools used to collect a fee of SR13,000 for two semesters, but fees have now increased to SR18,000 without any logical explanation behind the increase.

Mohammad Al-Mahmadi said he took his children out of a private school because he has three children and he can’t afford to pay the increased fees.

Some school owners said they had to increase fees because they needed to cover the cost of correcting the status of teachers and pay them their salaries.