Given the current situation, we, parents of students at Dubai International Academy Emirates Hill (DIA), a school owned by Innoventures Education, appreciate DIA’s continuous support, improvement in terms of remote learning and the sacrificial work of teachers.

On the other hand, we feel that asking for full tuition fee payment for the remote learning period that started on 22 March 2020, is unjustified.

Businesses all over the UAE are cutting costs. Most employees are being laid off, forced to take unpaid leave or having to accept 30-50% salary cuts. This current situation is a difficult time for all of us.

We appreciate that our school is paying teachers in full, which they rightfully deserve. However, this is a business decision and the financial implications of such decision must not be passed on to the students.

It is a clear fact, that the students are not using the school premises, utilities and facilities for the entire semester, thus reducing the school’s costs.

On the other hand, we have to come to terms with the sad reality that we are getting a different type of service than what we paid and signed up for. We cannot compare the remote learning to classes taught on school premises. Also, students have limited interaction with teachers. Certain classes, such as Moral Education, no longer exist in their previous form. In fact, Moral Education no longer exists at all: there is no teacher, no class, no Teams and no online teaching! Furthermore, there are no proper PE classes, no after school activities and no facilities that students can use.

We also would like to highlight, that remote learning is not a full alternative for IB learning. Many parents have to assist their children for 4-6 hours a day, providing all necessary equipment and technology for students to complete the assigned tasks and at the same time these parents have to work from home.

Taking the above into consideration, we are of the firm opinion that asking for a full payment of tuition fees for the last semester of the academic year 2019/2020 is unjustified. We request that Innoventures Education grants all students a reduction of 30% of the tuition fees for the last semester of the academic year 2019/2020. We propose that this fee reduction is to be funded through the reduced operating costs of the school and reduced dividends to its shareholders.

We trust that Innoventures Education considers our proposal and that we can continue the next semester together at our highly appreciated school.