Education D-G: International schools have to get prior approval

PETALING JAYA: International schools that want to increase their fees must comply with the Education Ministry’s guidelines.

Education director-general Tan Sri Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof said under the Education Regulations (Registration of Educational Insti­tutions) 1997, any private educational institution wishing to make changes to its approved fee structure must get the appro­val from the Chief Registrar of Education Institutions and Tea­chers.

“The school has to submit an application to make changes to its fees to the ministry’s Private Education Division.

“The application can only be made three years after the previous approval,” he told The Star.

Dr Khair said the proposed new fee must not be more than 30% than the current fee and the school has to provide justification for the increase.

He was commenting on the fees’ structure of international schools following complaints from parents.

Dinesh, who has two children in an international school in the Klang Valley, said parents believed the school had hiked its fees by 50%.

“The confusing fee structure led parents to think that the increase was 50% when it was actually in line with the ministry’s cap of 30%,” he said.

Dinesh said officials from the mi­­nistry’s Private Education Division visited the school on Tuesday.

“The officers told us the school has the necessary approvals to increase fees, and that parents are confused because the breakdown of fees was not clarified,” he said.

Taylor’s Schools president B.K. Gan said the ministry allowed international and private institutions to hike their fees once every three years.

“The schools do not have to get parents’ approval before implementing the rate hike, but could risk losing its students as parents may transfer them to another school with lower fees,” he said.