Excessive fees behind shift from private to public schools — parents

AMMAN — Financial burdens are forcing many families to transfer their children from private to public schools, say parents.

Monther Al Sourani, president of the Private Schools Owners’ Association, told The Jordan Times that the enrolment rate for the 2022-2023 academic year ranges from low to moderate. 

“It’s still too early to determine the enrolment rate for private schools since we still have 15 days left before registration ends,” Sourani added. 

Sourani said that there are many contributing factors driving the decision to transfer students from private to public schools. “Factors include, but are not limited to, financial burdens,” said Sourani. 

Sourani attributed the transfer trend to changing standards of living, a change in parents’ residence or workplace, in addition to many other factors. However, some parents told The Jordan Times that their only concern was being unable to pay tuition fees. 

“The reason why many students have been shifted from privileged private schools to public ones is obvious; it’s the terrible economic conditions of the parents,” Wafa’ Abu Rub, a mother of four, told The Jordan Times. 

Wafa’ added that parents can no longer afford to spend “thousands and thousands” of dinars annually to educate their children.

Meanwhile, Samer Shohabi, who has two children attending primary school, said that his primary concern is not being able to pay tuition on time. 

“Private schools mandate that parents give out written cheques for the full amount of tuition fees prior to the beginning of school year,” he added. 

He noted that parents don’t always have the cash on time. “Schools would bully kids for that, they would send my son a note to hand to me saying that his parent needs to pay-off the tuition,” he said.

“This embarrasses children, and should not be allowed,” he added. 

“The main reason I transferred my kids was because private schools’ fees are steadily on the increase,” said Haya Hariri, a mother of two high school students.

Meanwhile, Sourani stated that private schools were only allowed to increase tuition costs by three per cent. “We are also obligated to justify the tuition increase to the Ministry of Education,” he added. 

Hariri said that private schools “make it impossible” for many middle-class parents to keep their children enroled. It is a difficult decision to make “given the undeniable gap in the quality of education between the private and public schools,” Hariri added. 

“The harshest decision for a parent to make would be to compromise the quality of their kids’ education for money,” Hariri added.