JEDDAH:The Ministry of Education has directed private and international schools to publish their tuition fees on their websites to stop any manipulation or trickery.

The education administration under the ministry has, meanwhile, approved only 10-15 percent of applications by schools for permission to hike the fees, a local daily has reported.

According sources, the tuition fees includes all educational services except transportation. However, the schools whose applications for fee hike were rejected are eligible to complain to the ministry. The demanded increase was between SR1,000 and SR3,000.

The ministry has also issued a warning to private and foreign schools that they will be penalized if they do not stick to the approved fees.

The ministry has directed 45 school administrations to implement penal measures against the schools that refuse to adhere to the ministry’s orders on school fees.

The ministry also urged parents/guardians to complain about the schools that increase their fees violating the ministry’s approved rates.

The criterion to be considered by the committee that has been empowered to study the application of private schools to raise their fees include the cost of teaching, standard of the school such as the rating on the basis of the annual evaluation of academic performance, educational achievements and results generated by the school in the national tests, in addition to the level of Saudization in the schools.

The ministry had received a number of complaints from parents about the manipulation in the fee rates at some private schools.

The ministry has also stipulated that the schools that are permitted to increase fees partly or fully should wait two years before they can again demand a fee raise.