GEMS has another trick up its sleeve

Despite Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) education authority’s announcement announcing that it will come out with a new fee structure for private schools, Dubai Modern High School run by the Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) has asked parents to vote for a fee increase so as to be considered as a? “special case”.

Khaleej Times reports that parents of students have been asked to vote in favour of a “unanimously agreed” fee increase to continue on the existing campus. Members of the parent committee have, however, denied that there was any unanimously agreed fee increase.

KHDA had said earlier that if the school continues on its present premises, it will have to comply with its decision on the fees, which will be on a par with other private schools. The school will be permitted to hike the fees only if it moves to the new premises at Nad Al Sheba.

However, the circular sent to the parents proposes a fee increase of 20 per cent for 2009-10 academic year and another 20 per cent for 2010-11.

The last date to vote was on Monday 9 so that GEMS could take up the issue with the KHDA. A spokesperson of GEMS told Khaleej Times that the parent’s feedback was being reviewed. “We have received the parents’ feedback to the survey and are currently reviewing it. Once the results are clear, we will communicate this as well as the steps taken to the parents of Dubai Modern High School (students).”

On Sunday, the parent committee of the school posted a parallel survey on the Facebook community they formed in January as a platform for airing their opinions. This survey provides a more comprehensive outline of the situation which the parents could consider before voting on the fee increase.

“We have also launched a confidence index on the community to allow parents to rate their confidence level in the school. Right now, it looks like that’s very low,” said Dipen Mehta, a parent committee member.

Another parent committee member also said the proposed fee increase was, in fact, not a collective agreement. “The parent committee will not decide on behalf of the entire parent body. We have not agreed upon this 20-20 per cent hike. Every parent will have to take this decision on his own,” he said.

Sale of New Premises Denied
THE Global Education Management Systems (GEMS), which runs Dubai Modern High School, has scotched rumours that the school’s proposed new premises in Nad Al Sheba have been sold off.

A GEMS spokesperson said on Monday that there has been speculation about the new site but “we would like to confirm that the site has not been sold off”.

The clarification came in response to a posting on the Facebook that the Nad Al Sheba premises, where the school is supposed to shift and which has been cited as the justification for a 90 per cent fee increase in two years, have been sold off.

“According to us, this is a scam to extort money,” said a parent, commenting on the posting on?the Facebook.