The Education Ministry has stopped receiving requests from private school to raise their fees.

The deadline for schools to seek permission to raise their fees was Saturday, said Mohammed bin Eid Al-Otaibi, director of foreign and private education at the ministry. He said the ministry would announce the names of schools allowed to do so later this month.

Several private schools had submitted requests over the last 10 days. The ministry’s criteria for schools wanting to raise their fees is based on a rating system put in place two years ago.

The conditions include an annual evaluation, education standards and results of examinations. A school is also graded on the average number of students in classrooms, the average number of teachers, additional curricula, information technology, e-learning, resources, equipment, school furniture, security and safety, and professional development.

Education Minister Azzam Al-Dakhil had ordered provincial education administrations to stop private schools from increasing tuition fees unless approved by the ministry.

In a circular sent to all regional departments, the minister said that committees would assess all applications for raising fees, and consider complaints from parents against schools.

Parents have been angry recently about the rise in school fees at private schools and called on the ministry to act against what many termed as “greedy” owners. They claimed that fees were now SR22,000 for students at primary level and SR30,000 for seniors at international schools.

The ministry has ordered that owners of private and foreign schools post their tuition fees on their websites, including a likely increase.

Schools that were granted permission to increase their fees are not allowed another hike for two years. This applies to private, day, night, and foreign schools.

Officials at some private schools said they have been forced to raise their fees because of the increasing cost of running a school including classroom equipment, maintaining health specifications, alterations to rented buildings, maintenance, security, air conditioning, advanced warning systems, fire escapes, electricity bills and salaries of employees.