Dubai's 10 priciest (and cheapest) private schools

Written by:
Nyree McFarlane
26th January 2017

There’s no denying private schools in Dubai can be expensive – here are the 10 priciest (and the 10 cheapest)…

Private school fees can be very expensive in the UAE. In fact, the price of education can lead families with children to pack up and move home.

But a new study shows that the range in price between Dubai’s private schools is vast, with the cheapest English-language private school in the emirate more than Dhs103,000 cheaper than the most expensive one.

Sure, not all of these private schools teach in an English-language curriculum, but there are cheaper English options out there – for Dhs5,287 per annum a student can complete their final year of school – Year 12 – at Emirates English Speaking School.

A new report by online education guide Edarabia has shown that average school fees in Dubai can range from Dhs2,479 to Dhs120,145 depending on the age of students (that’s USD675 to USD32,711 per annum), and is not including additional fees for admission, transportation, school uniforms and books.

Just as a general (non-scientific) comparison, private senior school fees in the UK can range from Dhs45,000 to Dhs90,000 according to BestSchools.co.uk (but then there are far more English-language public school options in the UK considering it’s an English speaking country, just as there are far more Arabic-language public schools here).

Here’s a list of the 10 most expensive, and the 10 cheapeast schools in the UAE (based on the Year 12 school year, aka the last year of high school) and as compiled by Gulf Business.

10 most expensive Dubai schools

*Note: these are all English-language speaking schools (and the prices are just estimates)

(Based on fees for Grade 12/Year 13. Stats from Edarabia, based on KHDA data)

1. GEMS World Academy, Al Barsha

Fees (per annum): Dhs107,928

Curriculum: IB

2. Repton School, Nad Al Sheba

Fees (per annum): Dhs100,759

Curriculum: UK/IB

(Note: The original study claims that the Year 13 fees for Repton are Dhs120,000, which we initially reported. Repton has since contacted us to say that the fees are in fact Dhs100,759.)

3. Kent College Dubai, Nad Al Sheba

Fees (per annum): Dhs98,000

Curriculum: UK

4. Sunmarke School, Jumeirah Village Triangle

(Sunmarke School said it is offering a ‘founders discount’ in the first three years following its opening in September 2016. The maximum fee during this period is Dhs72,900)

Fees (per annum): Dhs95,000

Curriculum: UK