The increases are happening, whether you like it or not!

Several days ago, many families of students in private schools were surprised by messages that arrived on their phones “proclaiming” them expected increases in school fees that will be imposed during the next year without any acceptable justification. The families were surprised by these messages that come at a time when Lebanon is witnessing “relative economic stability.” Away from the war going on in the south.

“Lebanon 24” contacted the head of one of the parents’ committees at a private school, which had sent a letter to the parents informing them that the tuition fee would rise from $4,400 to approximately $6,350, an increase of approximately $2,000, and this is without taking into account the additional amount charged in Lebanese pounds.
The head of the committee confirmed to “Lebanon 24” that this increase requested by the school, just like dozens of other schools, is not based on a study or a real budget, knowing that we are still in the middle of the school year, and the administration is not aware of the number of students who will be there during the next year.
In parallel, the parents confirm that this year the schools demanded an increase in tuition fees, whether the Lebanese premium or the dollar premium, in order to modernize the school building and give raises to the teachers. However, the parents expressed their dissatisfaction with the way many administrations treated the teachers who confirmed that they did not receive any dollars, just as happens in the story of the compensation fund. Parents consider it a new tone, and dozens of schools have begun to benefit from it by using it as an excuse to raise tuition fees at the beginning of next year.
An educational source confirmed to “Lebanon 24” that schools are still paying the contributions distributed between the compensation and guarantee funds at a price of 1,500 LBP. When we asked about the reason, the source said that the difference in the value of paying the contribution in dollars between one school and another prevented the establishment of a unified mechanism for all schools.
In this context, parents warned of the danger of schools adopting the same strategy of increases that they did in 2012 and what was known at the time as the salary chain, when they imposed increases that were described as illegal, as they continued to collect these increases for 5 years without any right until the grades and salaries were approved in 2017.
Earlier this year, Education Minister Abbas Al-Halabi announced, “We will not allow any school to request increases in tuition fees to secure an increase for teachers from 6 percent to 8 percent.”
He added: “The beginning of the solution is to establish a unified mechanism, and we rely on standards applied in public education to apply them to private schools.”