Dubai parents and schools in legal pact

From September 1, mandatory KHDA agreement will define roles, responsibilities and rights of both parties at six schools

Parents and select schools covered by a new contract to be introduced in September will be legally bound by the agreement, a senior official of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) told XPRESS.

Asked if schools and parents can opt out of the new contract system, Abdul Rahman Nasser, chief of customer relations at KHDA, said: “It will be mandatory for schools and parents to sign the contracts.”

KHDA will implement the school-parent contracts from September 2013, initially covering nearly 10,000 students of six schools -- Dubai Modern Education School, Al Ittihad Private School — Al Mamzar, Al Ittihad Private School — Jumeriah, School of Modern Skills, Greenwood International School and American Academy in Al Mizhar.
While the authority is yet to release the text of the new contract, Nasser gave broad outlines of what’s covered.

“The general outline of the contract will be unified for all schools, but contracting parties will be given leeway on the details … details can be modified by each school where necessary, based on their practices,” he said.

Why is a written contract necessary between schools and parents? “We want both schools and parents to be aware of their roles, responsibilities and rights,” said Nasser, citing that one reason for the bulk of parent-school disputes has been the lack of clarity.

The contract is renewable and will be signed every year and will contain provisions on fees, as well as conditions on fee increases.
“Fees will be covered in the contracts. All fees must be in line with the fee framework guidelines issued by KHDA,” he said.

Nasser said KHDA developed the idea behind the school-parent contract after extensive research. “It’s an original contract, based on KHDA’s research which includes external international benchmarking, focus groups and meetings with both schools and parents,” he said.
Certain provisions cover the quality of instruction.

“A curriculum section outlines what the school should deliver in terms of teaching. It explains to parents what each child should be learning at each stage of their education.”
Violations

As for penalties in case of contractual violations, the official said: “There will be specific penalties applied to either party.”
He said that since the contract is a legally binding document, the KHDA will manage any contract-based disputes.
“The Compliance and Resolution Department has been established to initiate the contracts.”

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