The Ministry of Education and Higher Education said it was committed to transparency regarding private schools' tuition fees and the parents' rights to know the amount required before enrolling their children.
The adviser to HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education for Private Schools Affairs, Tarek al-Abdullah, said yesterday in a press conference that the ministry was committed to make the enrollment process very clear to parents when deciding on a school for their children.
He said that all schools must announce their tuition fees for academic 2018/2019 before the beginning of registration on March 1.
The schools must also inform the parents of the fee amount so they can decide whether to enroll their children in the same school or move to a different one.
He stressed that the goal of updating the procedures was to help parents boost the educational process.
He also said that evaluation of private schools had become mandatory in light of the ministry's new legislative powers.
The adviser also discussed the ministry's commitment to improving teachers' capabilities, as well as the role of the private sector in improving their performance.
He highlighted a number of projects and initiatives that the ministry will undertake in the near future in that regard.
For his part, Director of the Private Schools' Licensing Department Hamad al-Ghali said that the ministry accepted the request of 27 schools to raise tuition fees.
The increase ranged between 2% and 20%.
This was out of 115 requests to increase the fees, he added.
He noted that currently there is no ceiling for tuition fees, but that there was a plan to establish that once schools are divided into different categories.
Registration will take place from March 1-October 31.
Parents can receive a refund of fees they paid by April 2018, but not after that period.
The academic calendar for private schools will start on August 29, 2018.
The midterm break will be from December 23 to January 3.
Schools will actually start on January 6, given that the 3rd will be a Thursday.
The spring break will be from April 7-11. Since April 11 is a Thursday, schools will start on April 14.
He noted that schools of different communities are operated under the supervision of their embassies, which decide on their own academic calendar.