DUBAI — The Gems group of schools has deferred its decision to outsource school buse service in the emirate from June 1 to August 31, when schools resume after summer holidays.
The parents would soon have to shell out twice or even thrice the amount than they are paying now for the bus service. The transportation fee would vary from Dh 270 to Dh 800 in the nine schools of the group depending on the individual school and the bus route it serves. Gems would, however, continue to manage the services though it will be outsourced from a new company.
The group yesterday sent letters to the pupils of its Dubai schools, including Our Own Indian School, Our Own English High School, Our Own High School, Al Warqa’a, Dubai Modern High School, The Kindergarten Starters, The Millennium School, The Westminster School, The Winchester School and Cambridge International School, informing them of its revised decision.
The Winchester School, for instance, currently charges parents between Dh72 and Dh216 per month for the school bus service. However, the new charges have now doubled and in some cases trebled, much to the chagrin of parents.
The letter to a parent of a student of The Winchester School states, “At this time, we understand that the pick-up and drop-off bus fees charged by the new company will be in the range of Dh300-400 per month dependent upon the route. The new company will be responsible for setting and collecting bus fees which will be benchmarked against the other external providers.”
Gems officials said parents had been informed, in an earlier circular, to expect an increase in the transportation fees at the time of outsourcing.
In an earlier letter to the parents on April 22, the education group announced that it would outsource services to an external provider beginning from June 1. Officials now cite parental concerns of safety, security and accountability of an outsourced transport service for the change in its decision.
It states, “There will be no change in the provision of service until August 31, 2008. Our earlier letter had indicated June 1, 2008, as the date when the new optional transport provision would commence. This has now changed as a result of parental feedback. Parents have shared their concerns about safety, security and accountability of an outsourced transport service, concerns which we have taken seriously.”
It specified that through a management agreement, Gems would continue to manage the transport service, “enabling us to ensure that the same safe and reliable service continues to be provided”.
According to Gems, its transport services incurred a loss of Dh25 million last year, while this year, the projected loss was substantially higher. “Recent dialogue with regulatory authorities has confirmed that transport services for schools may be outsourced. Outsourcing of school transport services is a normal practice for many private schools in Dubai and schools around the world,” stated the letter.
The parents, on the other hand, expressed fears that transportation fees would now equal or almost be on par with the monthly tuition fee.
The mother of a student of the Our Own English High School said, “If I have to pay Dh500 a month, it would be nearly as much as my child’s tuition fee. I would prefer to own a car and pay the same money towards monthly instalments rather than pay the bus fees for two of my children.”
Another parent said, “Now they would increase fee every year citing inflation or rising costs. This is just a loophole in the system which Gems is exploiting without any compunction.”
The group has stressed that the transport service would use its existing fleet of buses, conductors and drivers.
By Preeti Kannan (Our staff reporter)