Parents want homeschooling for students affected by unpaid fees
SCHOOLS HAVE NOT RE-ENROLLED STUDENTS WHOSE PARENTS CANNOT PAY
Several parents whose children have not been re-enrolled in schools over nonpayment of fees have urged authorities to allow homeschooling as a temporary arrangement in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.
Many parents have not been able to pay fees due to loss of job, salary cuts or unpaid leave.
The Ministry of Education allows homeschooling in public schools in specific cases while Dubai’s KHDA and Abu Dhabi’s Adek do not recognise it. (see box)
‘We feel rejected by the school, where my children studied for 15 years’
Another Dubai parent, who only gave her initials, S.R, said her two children, in grades 7 and 8, have not been re-enrolled. Her husband was made redundant in February while she also lost her part-time job.
“I don’t know what to tell my children. We feel rejected by the school, where my children studied for 15 years. We never missed a single payment before. I’m thinking about homeschooling, but if it’s not accredited, then what’s the point?
S.R. said she told the school to allow the children to attend class for a month and if their fees weren’t paid by then, she herself would pull them out.
“I tried so many things, but there was refusal at every level. Authorities should look into this situation. It hurts me terribly to see my two boys sitting at home while other children are going to school,” she added.
‘School said pay, or we won’t let him attend class’
Another Asian parent SAA, said her son is not in school because “we’re getting zero income” after the family business collapsed in the pandemic.
“The school said pay before August 30 or we won’t let him attend class — we had opted for distance learning. I sent half a dozen mails explaining our situation. I told them I will pay soon as I’m borrowing some money, but there was no reply,” she said.
“On September 1, my son got ready to join his new virtual class, but his account was blocked. I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting this from the school.”
SAA is considering homeschooling to prepare her son for his IGCSE exams externally. She wants to enrol him in an online school based in South Africa that charges around Dh6,000 annually, compared to his former school fees of Dh14,000 a year.
‘How can we pay fees when we have no income?’
Rabab, a mother in Dubai, whose husband has lost his job, has not been able to re-enrol her three children, who completed grades 1, 3 and 5 at a British school. “How can we pay fees when we have no income? We are already taking loans,” she said. “My children are now doing grade-level courses at an academy in Dubai, but I fear they will have to repeat the year once they go back to school.”
‘Formally uneducated’
A Filipino father in Abu Dhabi, who lost his job in June, said he is unable to enrol his fiveyear-old son in school.
“I have medical bills to pay because of a rare condition, and cannot afford my son’s school fees. If homeschooling was recognised, I would enrol him with a provider, because I believe fees would be more affordable. My son remains formally ‘uneducated’. My wife and sister help him learn the alphabet and numbers and other simple concepts, but this is all they can manage on their own,” he added.