Parents fume over the ever-rising tuition fees in schools in Qatar

The cost of educating your child in Qatar is certainly not very low. Every year, private schools in the country find one reason or the other to increase their fee structure.

Sometimes, parents rise up against schools’ bids to raise fees, in the form of online petitions, among other modes of protest.

The frequent increases in tuition fees has left many parents in the country anxious about the future, reported Qatar Tribune.

“There’s a need to improve the quality of education instead of focusing only on good buildings and salaries of teachers,” Aisha Al Khalifi, a parent, was quoted as saying by Qatar Tribune.

“It seems like there’s no control on fees charged by private schools. Does it sound reasonable that the tuition fees for kindergartens amounts to QR38,000 per year and for grade I QR40,000 or QR50,000?” another angry parent told Qatar Tribune.

Um Nasser, a parent, said, private schools had turned education into a business.

“This is unfortunately the situation. The ministry should under no circumstances turn a deaf ear to such issues,” she said.

Another parent spoke about the absurdity of seat reservation fee.

“There should be control as there’s a hike in tuition fees to the extent that reservation fees of a seat amounts to a non-refundable QR3,000.”

Mohammed, another parent, said: “The education vouchers should be cancelled. I think it places unnecessary burden on the country and isn’t sufficient. I expect the tuition fees to go down after the abolition of educational coupons, and a tax should also be imposed on private schools.”

However, there are also parents who thinks about it from a different perspective.

“It’s like supply and demand. If demand for private schools declines, the tuition fees will go down. We cannot keep asking the authorities to control the fees. If the parents cannot afford tuition fees, then there’s free education system with good quality,” said Fawaz Al Nuaimi,a parent.