Mohammed Siddiq M | Clarion India
EVER since the COVID-19 outbreak, over 23 lakh people have been tested positive, and over 1.6 lakh people have lost their lives. In the UAE alone, over 6000 people have been tested positive, and over 40 people have lost their lives.
This global health crisis has forced governments all across the globe to impose a lockdown in order to stop the spread of this virus. This global lockdown has invariably had a massive backlash on the global economy. The UAE, is no different from the rest of the world in this regard, it has also been negatively impacted in terms of economy as much as any other country across the globe, if not more. Employees all over the country have been hit by salary cuts, layoffs, and furlough. Without doubt, the working class of the country is going through a very rough patch.
During tough times such as these, it is natural for parents that have children studying in schools and universities to expect some amount of financial assistance from the respective educational institutions of their children.
Therefore, keeping in mind the economic hardships, the UAE’s education authorities, the UAE’s Ministry of Education, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK), and Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), had urged education providers across the country to offer tuition fee discounts and other forms of relief to parents, last month.
This message by the education authorities of the country was a sigh of relief for the parents that had been hit by the economic downfall. However, the education providers had been kept at liberty to cut tuition fees or change payment terms that would suit the parents’ needs, such as offering monthly payment options.
In response to the request made by the education authorities, a few education providers such as Innoventure Education and Canadian University, Dubai, did announce 20% and 30% reduction in fees, respectively, for the new and returning students in order to offer help to the distressed parents during the COVID-19 crisis. However, a lot of the education providers went on to take advantage of the liberty given to them by the education authorities and decided upon not offering any kind of financial assistance.
GEMS Education Group, the largest education provider in the UAE, announced that they would provide financial assistance “to those that most need it”, and went on to offer tuition fee discounts to only 20,000 students out of the 1,15,000 students that study in their schools, which accounts for barely 17% of the total number of students.
Moreover, the criterion that they followed in order to decide the lucky few students was not disclosed in any of their announcements. Furthermore, a few parents complained that their application for financial relief had been rejected despite the fact that they had lost their jobs. So the question to GEMS Education Group is, if job loss is not a good enough reason to provide financial assistance, then what is? And also, does this mean that anyone who needs financial assistance, but not as much as a few others, does not deserve any kind of relief?
Moreover, a number of universities across the country have refused to offer financial assistance to parents despite the fact that university and college fees in the UAE is significantly higher as compared to school fees. The fact that the cost of university education in the UAE is much higher comparatively increases the importance and requirement of parents receiving financial assistance from the providers of this education. It is necessary that the universities realise the fact that the parents that have children studying there are at a greater risk of not being able to meet their essential expenses due to the current crisis. Despite these facts, university students have been receiving messages asking them to pay their tuition fees as soon as possible.
Furthermore, the ADEK and the KHDA had asked education providers and parents to come together and find a solution that is agreeable to both in order to put parents at ease. However, upon asking for discounts, students have been responded with a straight “No”. Therefore, in order to make a difference, the students of these universities went on to sign petitions and offer solutions to the problem, such as, ask for an extension in the deadline for tuition fee payments, or ask for an installment plan to pay their fees that could last till November, until which the university could hold back their degrees or promotion to the next year. However, these proposals were declined as well.
Initially, these universities assured that they would provide flexibility and support to the parents during these tough times, but with the sort of responses that they have been giving to the students upon being asked for support, makes it clear that they do not intend to do so.
Moreover, the parents were assured that the fees that will be paid will be invested in their faculty and staff, and their facilities and resources. But the question is, if the students do not attend university, they will for sure not be using the facilities and resources, then how is it justified to expect payment for them? This is a clear indication of the fact that these universities do not intend to offer a helping hand despite the severity of the current situation across the country. They simply value their profit margin a lot more than the future of their students.
So the question is, will they ever let go of their business models?
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(Mohammed Siddiq M. is a student pursuing Bachelors in Journalism and Mass Communication at Amity University, Dubai, UAE. The views expressed here are author’s personal and Clarion India does not necessarily subscribe to them.)
