Muhammad Al-Zahrani Okaz/Saudi Gazette Staff TAIF – The Ministry of Education has approved a hike in fee of private schools across the Kingdom effective from this academic year. The ministry has agreed to the requests made by about 95 percent of private schools in this regard, according to a source at the ministry. Elementary schools are the major beneficiaries of the decision. A large number of elementary school owners approached the ministry with their grievances that they would incur huge losses when they implement the ministry's decision to increase salary of teachers to SR5,600. Secondary schools are already charging a much higher fee and they meet the ministry's minimum salary criterion for teachers. Earlier, the ministry had sent circulars to all private schools to explain reasons for a hike in fee. In response to this, almost all schools made their requests for a hike in fee so as to offset the losses that they would incur while implementing the ministry's decision to increase salary of teachers and introducing more facilities and learning tools. The ministry has instructed that private schools should fulfill all the required terms and conditions before making raising fees. These included necessary learning facilities including school building and premises, student-teacher ratio, number of non-teaching staff, furniture, safety means and the grading of the school in terms of its academic performance and facilities.
