Private school fees in Dubai may vary by more than AED600,000 per year depending on where you live in the city, according to new research.
A report by educational portal Edarabia and real estate website Bayut revealed that Jumeirah Village Circle, Nad Al Sheba, and Arabian Ranches are the top three areas where school fees are most expensive, with average fees up to AED850,000 for all year groups.
By contrast, Al Karama, Deira, and Al Qusais are identified as the areas in Dubai with schools offering the lowest fees at just over AED200,000, the report said.
It added that JVC is also home to some of the most affordable villas and apartments in the city.
In February, it was reported that Dubai school fees will increase by up to 4.8 percent in 2017, according to the new Education Cost Index (ECI) which is used each year by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority to set fee increase limits for Dubai schools every year.
The new report said that there are now 185 private schools in Dubai with a total of 273,599 students.
Out of these, 16 were recently rated as outstanding by the emirate’s education authority, 14 were rated very good, 69 as good, 50 as acceptable and 10 as weak.
It added that most schools with a UK curriculum were found to have an outstanding or very good rating, while lying at the other end of the spectrum with more weak rated schools are those offering Indian curriculum.
The report also showed that the lowest apartment rents are to be found in the new, “suburban” neighbourhoods of Dubai – JVC, Sports City, Dubai Investment Park and Green Community. JVC is also home to some of the most affordable villas, after Mirdif and Al Rashidiya.
Conversely, the most expensive apartments and villas are to be found in the older, more central neighbourhoods – particularly Al Sufouh, Jumeirah, Nad al Sheba and Umm Suqeim. Arabian Ranches, a sought-after, high-end development consisting solely of villas, is the exception to this rule.
Last month, UAE businessman Mohamed Alabbar warned that private school fees are too high in the region and threaten to exclude poorer children from the education system.
The Emaar Group chairman questioned whether education should be privatised and said extortionately high private school fees were to blame for lack of access to high quality education and a general failure to prepare young people for the jobs market.
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