Private schooling costly, say parents
His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on Sunday directed to shelve the increase in private school fees after a number of schools raised tuition fees by five per cent. The Education Ministry’s go-ahead to “high-performing schools” to increase fees by five per cent was criticised by several parents as it put additional burden on parents.
DT News reporter Harpreet Kaur spoke to a cross-section of parents on what they think about the cost of education in the Kingdom? Excerpts
Fee hike is the last thing we want
My son goes to the Capital School and the recent news about hiking the school fees in private schools is absolutely bizarre! Private schooling is already very expensive in Bahrain and if they increase the fees further I’m afraid a lot of expatriates will have to look for other places to live in! I believe the authorities need to focus on the quality of education rather than commercializing it, which isn’t the case in most of the schools! They already charge extra for the smallest of things and the last thing they should do is increase the tuition fees.
Ayesha Irfan
Burden on parents
We are really glad that HRH King Hamad has put a halt to the decision as these days the schools focus more on making money than focusing on how to improve the education system. The fee hike decision was a huge burden on parents like us as the prices of essential goods are rising without any increase in our income.
Raju Sagar
High education costs a burden
When I compare the children’s academic level to that of my home country I don’t see much variation particularly in primary schools. Coming from countries with free education, I think the financial sacrifice we make is very high. I think high costs in private education is causing expats to leave; some even feel resentful that they could have bought their children a house instead of the fee we are forced to pay for now. Most children in private schools here have outside tutors for sports, Arabic and homework in general. This drives the school’s reputation up without the burden being felt by the school’s academia but by parents choosing to actually educate their children outside of the traditional private school. Thankfully HM King Hamad has put a stop to fee increases. I think he’s a fantastic leader and sees the best for the country. Also, I must say that we as a family can’t afford school if there are any hikes here. We had even strongly considered taking the children to home country after the fee hike.
Elizabeth Dadd
A commendable act by HM
Every organization aims to grow and sustain itself in an environment where prices of most goods and services are rising, be it petrol, water or electricity. It does burn a hole in our (parents) pockets especially for those with more than a single kid, as price rises are not commensurate with one’s income/ salary mostly. However, I would not say schools are becoming more commercial because they still continue to provide quality education. And quality education comes at a cost of having quality teachers or faculty who need to be paid well enough to be able to provide that service. Having said that I also feel that the recent announcement of halting the fee hike by the Education Ministry is a commendable initiative to ensure that such hikes are not random, do not affect parents, and will be checked and verified before being implemented.
Vaijayantee Bhattacharya
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