Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — An exorbitant hike in tuition fee by Jeddah's Al Wurood International School for Boys has upset the parents whose wards are studying in the institution, leaving them extremely perplexed on how to continue the education of their children. “The new fee structure is totally unaffordable,” a parent told Saudi Gazette. Several parents said that they were caught unawares by the circular from the school authorities indicating that there would be an increase in the tuition fee, which is almost 100 percent. They said the fee increase would deal a severe blow to their family budget, which is already impacted by the high cost of living. More than 150 parents gathered together in front of the school gate Tuesday morning in their attempt to meet the school authorities in order to redress their grievances. “When parents assembled, the school officials shut the gates on us. However, later they allowed our representatives to meet the principal,” said one parent. Ilyas Shareef, chief accountant at Alireza Holding Co., said that they have to pay monthly tuition fee of SR600 instead of SR290 for each primary class student. “For higher classes, the fee is SR800 in place of the current fee of SR460. There is also an increase in transport fee from SR160 to SR220,” he said. Shareef was one among the 10 representatives of parents who met Principal K. Rahamathullah Tuesday. “The principal listened to us but he politely and firmly refused a roll back on the decision. He failed to convince us with the features for the steep hike,” Shareef said. Ghauz Pasha, warehouse manager of Alireza Holding Co., and Safaris Khan, accounts manager of National Petrochemicals Co., said that the circular from the school was really a shock for many a parent. The fee hike decision was arbitrary without informing them about the situation well before taking the decision. “If the increase is 10-20 percent, it is justifiable and we can manage it somehow. But now the hike has totally derailed our family budget,” Pasha said, while adding that it added fuel to the fire in the wake of a huge increase in their cost of living following high house rent, price rise plus the new Labor Ministry levy for foreigners. The parents maintained that most of them belong to the lower middle class and middle class. A large number of them have more than one or two children in the school. One parent who has three children said that he would have to pay SR2,000 in place of SR980 in tuition fee for his kids plus transport fee of SR220 instead of SR160 for each boy. The parents are still optimistic that the school management would review the decision enabling them to continue their children studying there as they are satisfied with the school's quality of education. Reacting to the parents' complaints, the principal told Saudi Gazette that the management was forced to increase the fee under compelling ground realities. He said that the fee hike ranges between 30 percent and 70 percent. “We have no option other than to hike the fee to meet the increasing cost of operation. The management has been bringing extra money from other sources to meet the school expenses,” Rahamathullah said, adding that the school building rent was recently hiked 100 percent. “Apart from this, we have to find more money to meet the norms and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education. As per the ministry's directives, we have put in force total segregation of students by creating separate campuses for boys, girls and KG,” he said. “Earlier, it required one sq. m space for each student. But now, we have to enforce the ministry's new directive to have two sq. m per child, in addition to reducing the class strength of students to 25.” Rahamathullah said that he was trying his best to redress the grievances of parents. “I am discussing this matter with the management and hoping that there would be positive response,” he said, while assuring parents that there would not be any compromise on the quality of education at any cost.
