Sigh of relief for parents in Bahrain

Manama : Several private schools in Bahrain informed parents yesterday that the recent increase in school fees would not be implemented, a few days after they were hiked by five per cent, DT News has learnt.  

The decision to withdraw fee hike comes after the Royal Directives issued and announced on Sunday by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, instructing to shelve any increase in private educational establishments’ fees.After publishing HM the King’s directives on its cover page yesterday, DT News was reached by a number of private schools students’ parents, inquiring about more details on the new development.

As parents of children in various private schools have been informed by the schools’ administrations that the increased fees were dropped, others claimed that they’re still unaware about any developments as the schools haven’t reached out to them and the matter wasn’t clarified to them yet.This comes less than two weeks after the parents were informed by the administrations of the schools about the “sudden” fee hike.

“As some schools are closed for the spring break, no communication has been made between them and parents,” a private school teacher who wished not to be named told.

A panel formed by parents of students of a private school in the capital created an online forum to discuss the matter, questioning the worth of the existing fees, even if the increase wasn’t implemented, in return of some of the school’s facilities and services that they described as “poor and undeveloped”.

“The current school facilities are inadequate in certain areas and mismanaged in other areas,”  the panel commented in the forum. 

The ‘good’ status certified by the Education Ministry is based on a criteria of facilities, management and education levels which the school has not delivered to the students,” the panel commented in the forum.

The controversy began when Education Minister Dr. Majid Al Nuaimi recently issued a resolution that allows schools that are rated “good” or “excellent” to annually increase their fees by five per cent as an “encouragement to their high performance”.

The decision soon drew nationwide denouncement from parents, social activists and parliamentarians, especially as it came at a time when the cost of living has been on the rise, and that several schools announced the fee increase a few hours after the decision was announced.