Parents floored as school hikes bus fee by 175%
(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A bus fee hike of almost 175 per cent has caused an uproar among parents of Delhi Private School (DPS), The Gardens, Dubai.
The yearly school bus fee of Dh1,100 for students in the Jebel Ali area for the 2014-15 academic year has now been hiked to Dh2,500, which has to be paid in three instalments.
Parents of students living in Bur Dubai and Karama who have been paying Dh1,905 per annum said they will now have to shell out Dh4,300 and students living in Sharjah will have to cough up Dh5,200. The school is located near Ibn Battuta Mall.
The visibly upset parents have raised concerns with the school authorities and an 11-page petition signed by 159 parents, addressed to the school principal, has been submitted requesting reconsideration of the hike.
However, school authorities have told the parents that the transportation services have been outsourced to a transport company called Al Saraya, which is the reason for the hike.
The parents have also opened a closed group 'Petition against fee hike' involving over 599 members on Facebook addressing the issue of fee hikes. Parents have alleged that the hike was announced in a very sudden and deliberate manner. About 15 days ago, some parents received an SMS announcing the hike, while many others found out through other parents.
"I didn't receive any kind of text. I found out when I went to pay the school fees," said Ivan Mendonca, a resident of International City who has two children studying at the school. "We used to pay Dh2,100 per child and now it has been hiked to Dh4,300. There was a grievance meeting with the principal and we submitted a petition to the principal. Some parents have taken an initiative to resolve the issue.
"This sort of a hike is not acceptable, especially because it is at a very short notice and there was no concrete discussion with parents before the school decided to make the change," said Mendonca.
"I have no other choice but pay the fees, especially since there is very little public transport access to International City."
Fee hike
The school was awarded a Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) rating of Outstanding this year, for which the school fees were hiked by 3 per cent. "The fee hike is in accordance with the KHDA rules and regulations. We don't have a problem with that, but the transport hike is way more than what we can afford," said another parent P.D who didn't want to give his full name.
"Some parents are considering the option of using the Metro or own transport. However, traffic problems ... will eventually coax parents into using bus transport."
The parents said that despite the hike, there are no changes in the transport services. "There are no lady nannies in the buses and it is only today (Monday) that the electronic chip identification process was introduced," he added.
Pro-vice-chairman and managing director of the three DPS campuses in the UAE, Dinesh Kothari, said, "The school decided to outsource the transport because it was a drain on the finances and human resources of the school. We did ask the company to be sensitive to the needs of the parents but as per our calculation, the fee hike amounts only to Dh200 per month. We want to now focus entirely on the quality of education."
The yearly school bus fee of Dh1,100 for students in the Jebel Ali area for the 2014-15 academic year has now been hiked to Dh2,500, which has to be paid in three instalments.
Parents of students living in Bur Dubai and Karama who have been paying Dh1,905 per annum said they will now have to shell out Dh4,300 and students living in Sharjah will have to cough up Dh5,200. The school is located near Ibn Battuta Mall.
The visibly upset parents have raised concerns with the school authorities and an 11-page petition signed by 159 parents, addressed to the school principal, has been submitted requesting reconsideration of the hike.
However, school authorities have told the parents that the transportation services have been outsourced to a transport company called Al Saraya, which is the reason for the hike.
The parents have also opened a closed group 'Petition against fee hike' involving over 599 members on Facebook addressing the issue of fee hikes. Parents have alleged that the hike was announced in a very sudden and deliberate manner. About 15 days ago, some parents received an SMS announcing the hike, while many others found out through other parents.
"I didn't receive any kind of text. I found out when I went to pay the school fees," said Ivan Mendonca, a resident of International City who has two children studying at the school. "We used to pay Dh2,100 per child and now it has been hiked to Dh4,300. There was a grievance meeting with the principal and we submitted a petition to the principal. Some parents have taken an initiative to resolve the issue.
"This sort of a hike is not acceptable, especially because it is at a very short notice and there was no concrete discussion with parents before the school decided to make the change," said Mendonca.
"I have no other choice but pay the fees, especially since there is very little public transport access to International City."
Fee hike
The school was awarded a Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) rating of Outstanding this year, for which the school fees were hiked by 3 per cent. "The fee hike is in accordance with the KHDA rules and regulations. We don't have a problem with that, but the transport hike is way more than what we can afford," said another parent P.D who didn't want to give his full name.
"Some parents are considering the option of using the Metro or own transport. However, traffic problems ... will eventually coax parents into using bus transport."
The parents said that despite the hike, there are no changes in the transport services. "There are no lady nannies in the buses and it is only today (Monday) that the electronic chip identification process was introduced," he added.
Pro-vice-chairman and managing director of the three DPS campuses in the UAE, Dinesh Kothari, said, "The school decided to outsource the transport because it was a drain on the finances and human resources of the school. We did ask the company to be sensitive to the needs of the parents but as per our calculation, the fee hike amounts only to Dh200 per month. We want to now focus entirely on the quality of education."
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