Dubai: The education regulatory body has said schools do not have the right to change services during the academic year.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) yesterday reacted to the decision taken by Global Management Systems (GEMS), a private education conglomerate to outsource its school bus services at nine of its Dubai-based schools as of June 1 to cut costs. Gulf News had reported the story on April 23.
In its statement, KHDA said that it sympathised with parents who are worried about extra costs, once the transport services are outsourced to a private external provider.
Mohammad Darwish, Chief of Licensing and Customer Relations at the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, said: "It is only when a service is mandatory, when the school does not give a parent the choice of whether to pay for it or not, then the school may not increase the cost of that service independently.
"We sympathise with parents who are anxious about extra costs connected with their child's travel. We understand how worrying a price rise can be and how it can affect a family's budget.
"However, we have been very clear from the start that if any service a school offers is optional, then the school or service provider is free to set costs in line with market forces.
"We are concerned that this is happening now. Schools do not have the right to change services during the academic year. These changes must be in place from the beginning of an academic year, so that parents can plan their finances properly."
Colonel M.L.Augustine, director administration and education secretariat said that GEMS had applied for a hike in transportation fees with the KHDA and it was declined.
"If we are allowed to increase the transportation fee will not outsource our buses otherwise there is no option. We have been incurring losses in millions of dirhams and cannot afford to do so any further."
School fee cap
A section of parents has alleged the private education provider is trying to circumvent the 16 per cent school fee cap by outsourcing school bus services. They alleged that GEMS would outsource to a company floated by it. Colonel M.L. Augustine, director administration and education secretariat, GEMS, denied the allegations and said: "This is absolutely untrue. This is not the way to make money."
He said that the buses as well as the drivers would most probably be absorbed in the new system.
By Sunita Menon, Staff Reporter