Dubai school fees hike by up to Dh5,000, outraged parents protest

Double rate hike has been initiated in Dubai, and parents are either accepting the hike in fee or a different education. While others are accepting hikes of up to Dh5,000 a year per pupil, others are accepting small hikes of handful of hundreds of dirhams. With fees increasing on all fronts, there are many parents struggling to keep up, from paying an up-front fee of a year's fee to price comparison at budget schools.

In May 2025, the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) of Dubai approved a 2.35% Education Cost Index (ECI) increase for private for-profit schools for 2025-2026. This move enables the schools to revise their fees according to individual school grades based on the performance of the Dubai School Inspection Bureau (DSIB) and the ECI. The move affects families in Dubai, who have begun receiving communications for the fee hike.

The hike is only one of a wide array of across-the-board measures to counteract inflation, operating cost increases, and other cost pressures that plague schools. While record increases are being awarded to some parents, others are being provided relief at small increases.

Economic reality has already got most parents struggling to keep up with fee increases on the issue, anyway. Take the case of Dubai resident Manal, whose kids study in an Indian syllabus school at Al Quoz. "The overall increase in the fee of my kids will be Dh400 annually," she also stated. "I am more than relieved that the increase is not a humongous sum and something which all of us can gulp down," Manal also added. "We had anticipated a hike this year and hence we were not surprised," commented Khaleej Times.

Others are experiencing much bigger rises. There are some families who are experiencing much bigger hikes. Vivek, an Indian expatriate with two kids in a high school, told us that the school fees for his kids now cost between Dh87,000 and Dh92,000 annually. The second hike will be Dh10,000 each for both the kids annually. "But my school charges one year's school fee in advance," Vivek explained. "This has deprived me of a bulk discount and hence total fee hike for me has been about Dh3,000 each year for the two children."

Even mothers like German expatriate Greta, whose three children are enrolled at a British syllabus school in Jumeirah, are not exempted. "I got the letter last Wednesday that my school rate increases by Dh2,000 a year a child," Greta said. "Gobsmackingly Dh6,000 a year in school fees. And don't even get me started on the books, the uniform, and the rest of the course material." Greta goes on to say that she can even think about switching schools because her eldest will be repeating Year 11 next year. She and her husband are reducing, though, by reducing some of their school-related costs in an attempt to offset the additional cost. The increasing demand for the cheaper alternatives

Others find hikes to be too costly to swallow, and so are already considering sending their kids to cheaper schools. Mohammed Iqbal, who sends his kids to a school that imparts the British curriculum in Qusais, was relieved in that his school hike was relatively modest, Dh1,200 annually. "I was kind of expecting more than that, so I am completely over the moon," he said.

Or mother R.M., whose children attend another British syllabus school, has also noticed fees increasing in the past two years.

"Last year their fees increased by 4.55%, and this year their fees increased by 2.35%," said R.M. "Of course, there is a time when it costs to do business but costing the parents too because, by the way, unfortunately, the salary does not rise that quickly as the cost. I went shopping around schools the very minute I learned of the fee hike, then fell back behind feeling stuck because it would have issues too. So we remained with the one we are already in." Umm Mohammed, Dubai parent, shifted her child to a less costly school prior to the announcement of the fee hike.

"We were already paying over Dh55,000 a year in school fees at our previous school," she explained. "It was already as much as we could afford. So we'd made that choice last year and transferred her to another school. Now we pay Dh30,000 with fees, uniform, and books." We all heaved a sigh of relief when school fee news broke. At my previous school, it would have been very tough for us to afford such a fee increase. Now the increase is merely Dh1,000 a year. It is completely fine with us. It was the correct decision to relocate her, I believe," she said. The Bigger Picture: Dubai's Expanding Private School Market

The private sector of education in Dubai has been on boom, recording 12% growth among students during the financial year 2023-2024. Out of the latest available statistics, Dubai now has 227 private schools with 387,441 students from 185 countries. Student number growth may have contributed to demand for the increasing need for private education and the subsequent increased fees.

While there have been issues, there are also decent-sized numbers of parents who feel there is value in the Dubai private school system and some schools actually provide some flexibility in payment terms to soften the cost burden. The variation of school programs, ranging from international curricula to specialist courses, also provides parents with improved alternatives, even if frugality is an issue in this situation.