The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) has increased private school fees for the 2023-24 academic year. The announcement follows a three year hiatus in fee increases, which was in place to support parents amid the negative repercussions of the pandemic.
The allowed increases are based on the individual school’s rating from their Irtiqaa inspections in the academic year 2021-22.
Schools rated ‘outstanding’ have the option to increase their tuition fees by a maximum of 3.94% for the new academic year, while schools with a ‘very good’ rating qualify for a 3.38% increase, schools with a ‘good’ rating qualify for a 2.81% increase and schools rated ‘acceptable’, ‘weak’ and ‘very weak’ can put into place a maximum increase of 2.25%.
In order to be eligible for the tuition fee increase, schools must have also been operating for a minimum of three years.
Irtiqaa inspection results show that 11 schools were ranked ‘outstanding’, 37 ranked ‘very good’, 85 ranked ‘good’, 63 ranked ‘acceptable’, and one ranked ‘weak’. The inspections were run in conjunction with the UAE Unified School Inspection Framework and encompass a number of performance standards, including students’ achievement; students’ curriculum; protection, care, guidance and support of students; leadership and management.