Dubai: At 3pm Mohammad Hassan, a 10-year-old student, is waiting for the school bus. Not to go back home, but to start his school day.
Unlike the majority of children in the UAE, Mohammad is one of 4,000 students who receive their education in the evening, as the fees are lower. Fees range from Dh1,200 to Dh2,200 per year, much lower than those charged for the morning shift in the same school.
Mohammad, who is in grade 5 at a Sharjah charity school, starts his school day at 4pm and does not return home until 9.30pm, something he and his parents would like to change, but their economic situation prevents them from doing so.
"I get really tired during the last two lessons of the day. Sometimes I even fall asleep. I wish I could go to school in the morning like other children," said Mohammad.
The rising cost of living, especially high school fees, has forced Mohammad's parents to send their four children to evening school.
"With only my husband working and four children in school we could not afford to send our kids to ordinary schools any longer," said Najwa Karoum, Mohammad's mother. Karoum said that even after four years at evening school her children are still finding it difficult to adapt to this lifestyle.
"The other option would have been that I and the children would have separated from my husband and gone back to our home country," said Karoum, a Palestinian refugee from Lebanon.
Charity schools, the only schools that have evening classes, were founded by philanthropist Juma Al Majid in 1983 to assist low-income families.
The schools which are from grades 1 to 12 are non-profit schools and fees are spent on school services and maintenance.
Dr Mohammad Robin Adris, general director for charity schools, told Gulf News the high demand coupled with limited resources dictated the need for evening schools.
"More and more people are being forced to send their children to evening classes, but the problem is these schools have limited capacity compared to the demand," said Adris.
There are 1,000 pupils on the waiting list for one of the five schools in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman, according to Adris.
Some children attending evening schools develop an inferiority complex which affects their academic performance, but the majority of pupils adapt to this life-style without major problems, he added.
Nadia Abdullah, an Iraqi mother of three, said her children's lifestyles have not changed much since they started evening school a year ago.
"My children actually prefer going to school in the evening because it gives them more time to study during the day," said Abdullah.
- Morning shift (charity school): Dh3,400-Dh6,600 per year
- Evening shift (charity school): Dh1,200-Dh2,200 per year
--Average annual fees at UAE schools: Dh9,000-Dh16,000