As most international school students are back to school already, the high increase in tuition fees seems to be the talk of the town. It’s only expected that international schools would raise their fees following the devaluation of the Egyptian pound but this year, however, it seems more like a showing off competition.
In an incident that happened almost a couple of weeks back, one of the parents vandalized the campus of Europa Schule Kairo (ESK), the German school in New Cairo, because the school suspended the kids who didn’t pay their tuition. The suspension came after the school and the parents couldn’t reach a common ground on the rise of fees.
The following video shows the how the incident started and how it escalated.
Not only in ESK, but in almost every other international school there has been a hike on fees and parents are not happy about it. There are always multiple perspectives to look at things. Who are we to judge, we are just trying to shed light on the different views.
Currency Floating After Effects
Due to the depreciation of the currency that happened a couple of times this year, the value of the Egyptian pound decreased compared to other currencies, in which the foreign teachers get paid. So how will the school afford paying such high wages? By raising the tuition fees, simple maths. At the end of the day, you only get what you pay for. The parents, however, are tormented between those two realities, where they are doing all they can to give their kids the best education/schooling experience and at the same time keeping up with the ongoing rise in fees.
The Showing off
On the other hand, there is a small minority of parents who enroll their kids to a particular school just because of its prestigious name and social status. However, we find that those parents might not pay as much attention to the quality of the education as opposed to the nationality of the teachers, the destinations of the trips or the graduation ceremony festivities. Parents may actually weigh the quality of their kids’ education by the language the kids speak or learn; they do get proud that their kids speak Araby shwya shwya. Or even better, if the kids go to schools abroad. And they are willing to pay A LOT.
Education is the key
What the majority are really looking for is a decent school with an international curriculum to provide their kids with a better education system. Why? To give them better opportunities in the competitive labor market, a bright future to depend on in rainy days! Are international schools really that much better than private national schools? If our national schools are to be improved, will we consider admitting our kids to those high-end schools? It is more complex than it seems. Education is the key here regardless of who you are and what you are worth as a person. Something needs to be done to ensure people get what they deserve and what they pay for.
Yes what you pay for your kids’ education is a great investment if, and only if, what they are learning is worth that handsome amount.
