TAIF — The Ministry of Education has approved tuition fees increase applications for 75 percent of private schools in the Kingdom. A source at the ministry said the ministry approved the tuition increase for 2,500 private schools in the Kingdom. According to the ministry's regulations, these schools will not be allowed to apply for another increase in tuition fees for the next two academic years. “The decision applies to daytime, nighttime and international schools,” the source said. “The ministry has formed main and secondary committees in all of the ministry's directories to supervise and monitor the application of the new decision,” the source added. The main committees are responsible for receiving the schools' tuition increase applications while the secondary committees are responsible for receiving parents' and students' complaints or support of the new tuition fees. “The secondary committees are also responsible for ensuring students' education level at the school, their preparation for the General Aptitude Test (GAT) also known as Qiyas, the schools' accreditations, Saudization rates at schools and their yearly evaluation by the ministry,” said the source. The source also said the deadline for tuition fees increase application is March 19. Applications can be submitted online by school owners. “The ministry's secondary committees have until March 26 to review all applications and ensure they meet with the requirements before forwarding the applications to the main committees. “The main committees, then, have until April 2 to approve or reject the applications,” explained the source. The source also added parents will have 15 days to report any complaints starting from April 14 till April 30. The secondary committees will begin reviewing complaints from April 16 until May 11. The main committees will look into complaints from April 22 until May 11. “The ministry's reports showed there are 600,000 students studying in private and international schools in the Kingdom. They are saving the country SR12 billion as the cost of one student in the public sector throughout his years of studying reaches SR20,000,” said the source.
