PARENTS FEEl dRAwN dUE To AFFoRdAbIlITy, FlExIbIlITy

Parents who are showing interest towards home school providers state three main reasons — health, finances and flexibility.

Swiss expat Hussein Bashir said he pulled out his three daughters from school this March as most schools initially refused to give fee waivers.

“I am facing a 30 per cent pay-cut. I was not willing to pay the Term 3 fees during distance learning where the pressure is mostly on parents to teach their children. My daughters were in an American school in Grades 9, 7 and 2. This option also provides the same curriculum and, in my opinion, is more prudent and economical.

“Since things are looking quite uncertain at the moment and we still don’t know if schools would reopen in September, I am planning to continue with this for the 2020-21 academic sessions,” he added.

British expat Heba Ahmad withdrew her daughter from a regular school this April, after juggling between household work and school lessons.

“My Grade 1 daughter Arya’s online learning classes used to start at 8am and go on till 3pm. I have a three-year-old as well who also wanted attention. It was a struggle. One week of online learning turned out to be a terrible experience for us. That’s when someone suggested that enrolling my child in homeschooling would be a good idea. I am just paying Dh5,000, which is three times less than what we would pay in a regular school.”

The mother buys curriculum from her provider and uses videos to teach her daughter according to her preferred time.

Indian expat Soma Mukherjee is also planning to withdraw her daughter from school in the near future. Although her daughter is a Year 12 student of a Dubai school, the family feels the current health scare is here to stay.

Soma said: “We are just waiting for her end of year assessments. Even if schools reopen in September, I am not keen on sending my daughter to a school. As it is, a lot of children come to school with flu and fever despite institutes warning not to send their wards. In the current situation, how will schools be able to ensure who is carrying the virus and who is not.”