It obtained sentences against them and prevented children from enrolling or moving to alternative schools

Late fees lead private schools and parents to court

The regulations prohibit schools from taking any financial security or deposit when enrolling students.

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Families of students in private schools reported that late fees did not only hinder their children’s enrollment in the school year, but the schools filed a lawsuit and obtained judgments against them. provisions therein.

In detail, the Abu Dhabi courts recently witnessed cases brought by private schools, in which they demanded tuition fees late for the last academic year and the year before last, and the most recent cases included a request for a student’s guardian to pay her an amount of 75 thousand and 390 dirhams, indicating that he enrolled his son in the ninth grade, He has incurred tuition fees for the academic year 2021-2022 in the claimed amount, which have not been paid.

In a similar case, a private school filed a lawsuit against the guardian of a student, incurring tuition fees for one academic year amounting to 89 thousand dirhams, and the Al Ain Court ruled in a third case obliging a guardian to pay 116 thousand dirhams to a private school, the value of tuition fees for his three children. For the academic year (2020-2021), after the school filed a lawsuit against the guardian and demanded the amount from him.

A private school filed a lawsuit before the court demanding that the father of three students in the school be obligated to pay the amount of 34 thousand and 259 dirhams, as well as obliging him to pay fees, expenses and legal fees, because he refused to pay the tuition fees owed by his children, while another school filed a lawsuit against the guardian of two students, to oblige him That he pay her the tuition fees owed by his two sons in the amount of 175 thousand and 516 dirhams, the value of the tuition fees for the twelfth grade.

The school's claims were not limited to large sums, as a private school sued the father of a child in kindergarten, for being late in paying the rest of the tuition fees, while the Abu Dhabi Court for Family and Civil and Administrative Cases obligated the defendant to pay the school an amount of 2130 dirhams.

The students’ families: Louay Abdel Nour, Hisham Magdy, Imad Samir, and Najat Wahba, explained that schools stop students’ registration in the event of late payment of tuition fees, and prevent students from being transferred to another school before payment, which causes their educational journey to stop, and after that the schools She is not content with filing lawsuits against the students’ families, but rather, after obtaining a court ruling in her favor, she files civil lawsuits, in which she asks for financial compensation, despite knowing that the students’ families have refused to pay because they do not have money, as a result of emergency circumstances, most of which are related to the loss of jobs.

The students’ families, Mahmoud Bahjat, Wael Hussein, and Raymond Saad, indicated that the schools file lawsuits for the full tuition fees, even if the guardian paid one of the installments, but the court deducts the amounts paid in the event of submitting receipts, pointing out that the judicial rulings that obtain Schools have to complicate matters for them more, as it results in problems at work and renewal of residence permits.

On the other hand, officials in private schools, who asked not to be named, confirmed that they have repeatedly asked the students’ families to pay the fees, but they refuse without justification or legitimate reason, which requires the school to resort to litigation to preserve its rights and ensure its continued commitment to its duties. and to fulfill their financial obligations.

They pointed out that school administrations do not take the decision to resort to the courts except after exhausting all communication tools, and giving the guardian multiple opportunities to pay, noting that there are counterproductive cases filed by students’ families to oblige schools to hand them educational certificates for their children, despite not paying the fees, in order to enroll them in schools. Others, evasion of late payment of fees.

The department indicated that it prohibits the school from charging any financial guarantee, financial deposit, application fees, or enrollment fees for the first time from parents to register their children, or to pay any remaining installments, even if they are refundable, and obliges schools to provide the possibility of paying tuition fees in three equal installments - At least - at the beginning of each semester, so that the students’ families can cover the school fees during the school year, noting that the school may collect the first installment within a month before the start of the school year, with the need to enable parents to pay the required school fees in a timely manner, in a manner Flexible.

A student may not be dismissed

The Department of Education and Knowledge in Abu Dhabi stressed that a student may not be dismissed from school due to late payment of school fees, nor may any student be denied entry to exams at the end of the semester or year, or any exam scheduled during the year, due to non-payment of school fees, stressing the need to Schools deal with cases of non-payment of school fees in a confidential manner, in order to protect the student from embarrassment or any unnecessary attention.

“Education and Knowledge”: Failure to pay fees has specific consequences, and the school may suspend the student from studying.

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