KHDA reveals real truth about Dubai school fees in new Fact Sheet for parents. All hidden costs to be revealed. Scholarship opportunities to be published in full.

Parents across Dubai are set to benefit from the KHDA’s new Dubai School Fees Fact Sheet, a one-page reference sheet that will contain details on all the fees that a school may charge during one academic year – including all the many “hidden” costs and extras that parents may face from schools over the course of a year. 

Dubai’s school regulator, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) has introduced the new resource to provide parents of private school students with transparent, comprehensive, reliable and meaningful information about Dubai school fees.

In addition to mandatory tuition fees, the Fact Sheet will include details of other verified fees that parents might have to pay during an academic year, such as transportation, extra-curricular activities, school trips and books, to name a few. Parents will be able to access a School Fees Fact Sheet for every private school in Dubai from each school’s website and the KHDA online directory.

Importantly too, The School Fees Fact Sheet will also include information on discounts and scholarships given by each school, if applicable. SchoolsCompared has long campaigned for more schools to provide scholarships and bursaries – many do, but they are not always published.

While school fees information has generally already been available on each individual school’s website, the format is not uniform, and the information may not always contain the full picture – with the official KHDA-approved fees sometimes markedly different from the amount that parents end up paying when other additional fees are included. Dr Abdulla Al Karam, Director General of Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) says:

“Dubai is committed to supporting an environment that enables parents, students and schools to engage with each other and make choices based on clear information. Through the School Fees Fact Sheet, parents can understand a school’s complete fee structure at a glance. This will help them make better decisions about their children’s schooling. When there’s transparency on fees, both parents and schools can better focus on children’s growth. We’re grateful to private schools in Dubai for their support in making the fact sheets accessible to their parent communities.”

When will the Dubai School Fees Fact Sheet roll out?

During the first phase, the School Fees Fact Sheets will be implemented by schools starting their academic year in April this year, covering parents of more than 81,000 students across 35 schools in Dubai.

Schools starting their academic year in September 2022 will get access to the service before the close of the current academic year.

About School fees in Dubai

What’s the difference between mandatory and optional fees?

Mandatory fees are approved and regulated by KHD.. Optional fees are generally not part of curriculum delivery. They are provided by the school or a third party and are governed by agreements between parents and schools.

While books and uniforms are mandatory, some schools give parents a choice of where they can be purchased.

Which fees and services are regulated by KHDA?

Find out what happens if you can no longer afford to pay your Dubai school fees?

Discover the true cost of an education in Dubai – all school fees listed, highest to lowest.  

It was announced this Spring that Dubai school fees will be frozen for the third year in a row for the academic term 2022/2023 – but could this end up backfiring on parents?

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