New private school fee regulations outlined

Manama : Under new performance-based criteria, only schools rated “Good” or “Excellent” will be authorised to increase students’ fees by five per cent, pending board of directors’ approval, Education Ministry Undersecretary for Educational Affairs and Curricula Dr. Fawzi Al-Jowder said yesterday.

This was disclosed after Dr Al-Jowder held a meeting with principals representing high-performing schools to update them on the new fee regulations. The new fee readjustment procedures will take effect at the beginning of the school year 2018/2019, in line with the ministerial edict dated August 27, 2017. 

In case the increase in school fees exceeds the nominal 5pc benchmark, the approval of the school board and parent’s council would be required for the hike to be endorsed. 

Fourteen private schools are rated as high-performing, out of 73 privately-owned educational establishments.

Dr. Al-Jowder said that any increase would be performance-based, taking into account the review reports, periodically released by the Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA). 

He urged representatives of the high-performing school to communicate with students’ parents before increasing school fees, stressing the ministry’s keenness on encouraging private education investment. 

The meeting was attended by Assistant Undersecretary for Private and Continuous Education Jaffer Al-Sheikh and Private Education director Ahlam Al-Amer.