BREAKING: Dubai school fees to rise by up to 5.2% in 2024/2025 as KHDA announces new Education Cost Index

Dubai school fees are set to rise by up to 5.2% for the 2024/2025 academic year, following an announcement by the Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) of an Education Cost Index (ECI) of 2.6 per cent.

Under the KHDA’s School Fees Framework, the amount by which schools can adjust their fees is tied to each school’s most recent inspection rating, which ranges from Outstanding at the top end to Weak at the bottom end.

Private schools that maintain the same inspection rating as the previous year will be allowed to increase their fees by up to 2.6 per cent.

Schools dropping down in their annual inspection rating will not be eligible to apply for any fee increase.

Schools that improve their rating from Weak to Acceptable or from Acceptable to Good will be eligible to increase their fees by up to double the ECI of 2.6 per cent, or 5.2%.

Schools moving from Good to Very Good will benefit from an increase of up to 1.75 times the ECI (4.55%) and schools improving their rating from Very Good to Outstanding will be eligible to increase their fees by up to 1.5 times the ECI (3.9%).

Any fee adjustment by schools must be approved by the KHDA.

Although this might not come as welcome news to many parents, Dubai schools themselves have lauded the move, with Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer, GEMS Education stating:

“The decision to increase school fees for academic year 2024-25, depending on KHDA approval for each school, empowers us to invest further in our teachers, curriculum provision, and facilities, the bedrocks of a quality education for every student.

“We will be informing our families in due course about their schools’ fee structure for the coming academic year, and we thank them again for their continuing trust in a GEMS Education school as the best choice for their children.”

What is the Education Cost Index (ECI)?

The decision regarding whether or not Dubai private schools may raise their fees is based on the Education Cost Index (ECI), which is calculated in collaboration with Digital Dubai Authority.

The ECI measures annual changes in the costs of running a school, including salaries, rent and utilities and is based on the annual audited financial statements of private schools in Dubai.

If the ECI is negative – as it has been in previous years – this means that school costs have stayed the same or gone down and so school fees are frozen.

However, this year the ECI has been set at 2.6%, meaning that schools’ costs supposedly went up by this amount in the past year. Schools may now raise their fees, based on calculations tied to their inspection rating and regulated by the KHDA’s School Fees Framework.

The Education Cost Index is considered to be a “safety valve for parents”, according to a KHDA spokesperson commenting on the School Fees Framework in 2016, as it “maintains sustainability in their children’s schools. This lays the foundation for a stable educational environment in the long run in Dubai for all stakeholders, including education service providers”.

KHDA’s School Fees Framework

Read: The truth about Dubai school fees. Every Dubai school’s fees listed in by cost and inspection rating

Shamma AlMansouri, Director of Permits at KHDA said:

“Aligning the fee adjustment with schools’ inspections ratings emphasises the quality offered by schools, while enhancing the competitiveness of the sector and encouraging schools to meet the needs of parents by catering to the needs of a diverse student body to ensure access to high quality education for all children.

“Furthermore, the application of a scientific methodology to monitor and analyse the audited financial statements of private schools in Dubai allows for a transparent process that takes into account the interests of all our stakeholders and ensures continuous improvement in the quality of education offered by schools while also safeguarding the sustainability of the private schools’ sector.”

The KHDA says that the School Fees Framework was introduced to allow schools to develop long-term growth plans while contributing to a robust and reliable private education sector that offers families a choice of high-quality education.

Why are Dubai School fees so expensive?

One question that is often on UAE parents’ lips  – and especially in the wake of fee rises – is why are Dubai school fees so expensive? And why do the fees vary so much between schools?

There are many possible factors – but one key variable can be the age of the school. Newer schools tend to be more expensive due to modern facilities, ongoing real estate payments, and regulatory limitations on fee increases for older schools. The educational landscape in Dubai and the UAE has evolved significantly over the past 20 years, and newer schools are often able to open at a higher price point than those that opened decades ago or more.

Recognised brands, whether local or global, also contribute to higher costs. Established school groups and globally recognised names provide parents with a sense of security, as they are associated with a known and proven track record of quality education.

While higher costs do not always equate to higher quality, it’s important to be alert to the potential compromises that are sometimes associated with lower fees. These trade-offs might (but do not always) encompass: less favourable student-to-teacher ratios; bigger class sizes; limitations on the breadth of subject options and extracurricular choices on offer; more limited facilities and pastoral care; as well as differences in the training, experience and nationality of school staff (some countries are more expensive to recruit from than others).

Dubai School Fees from lowest to highest 

Which is the most affordable and most expensive schools in Dubai? Below, all Dubai schools rated Outstanding, Very Good or Good, are listed in ascending order of the cost of their average annual fees in Dirhams**…
Please note: the schools fees mentioned are taken from the KHDA Fees Fact Sheet for the academic year 2023-2024, which every Dubai school is required to submit annually. They represent the official KHDA approved fees, and do not account for any discretionary discounts that schools may choose to offer against the KHDA approved fees. There are also sometimes further, hidden, mandatory costs – such as uniforms, transport or IT costs – that are not included in the Fact Sheet. These factors may account for any discrepancy between the cited KHDA fees and the fee quoted by the school directly.

*Indian and Pakistani schools have completed their 2023/2024 inspection so their most recent official ratings are included here. The rest of the schools (those following the British, UK, US, IB, etc curricula) are still in the process of being inspected and so the ratings mentioned below are from the most recent available official ratings, which is from the 2022/2023 round of inspections.

**Please note: the schools fees mentioned are taken from the KHDA Fees Fact Sheet for the academic year 2023-2024, which every Dubai school is required to submit annually. They represent the official KHDA approved fees, and do not account for any discretionary discounts that schools may choose to offer against the KHDA approved fees. There are also sometimes further, hidden, mandatory costs – such as uniforms, transport or IT costs – that are not included in the Fact Sheet. These factors may account for any discrepancy between the cited KHDA fees and the fee quoted by the school directly.

It is also important to note that many schools offer bursaries, scholarships, discounts for siblings, welfare assistance in some cases, founders discounts for new schools – and so on. You should always discuss fees with schools as some may be open to negotiation.

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Best Dubai schools listed in order of fees and rating