GEMS says freeze on fees may force some schools to shut

Sunny Varkey, chairman of UAE-based education provider GEMS, says some of the oldest private schools in Dubai may shut down unless fee restructuring is permitted to meet rising cost. 'Today, we have come to a stage where it is impossible to run old schools at less than half the price of the new ones because we have been losing our quality teachers to the new schools on account of our inability to offer competitive salaries,' Varkey said in a letter to Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority. The authority recently denied permission to eight Asian schools, including GEMS-run schools, to raise fees for the academic year 2010-2011 that starts in April.