From: Parents of Newlands School

8th April 2020

To: The Management,

Newlands School, Beaconhouse Group

Subject: Fee Reduction on Third Semester's E-learning By 30%-25%

Dear Sir, Madam

In light of the existing situation and in response to the School's email regarding fees reminder, the parents of Newlands School ("We") feel that it is unjustified that Newlands is demanding a full fee payment for the third term's "Distance Learning Program." Therefore, we would like to request a fee reduction for the third term given the below-mentioned reasons.

As the principle mentioned in his final statement, "Remember, we are all in this together," in reference to the COVID19 crisis. We want to express our feeling of being unsupported during this time as we are being asked to pay full fees for the third term.

We understand that the school has not fully utilized its facilities and resources (i.e. DEWA bills, books and supplies) since the end of the second term. Also, children are not attending the School for the entire term, neither using the premises, utilities, facilities, nor all extracurricular activities thus reducing the School's costs. On the other hand, parents have invested in supplies for their kids, including printers and other requirements, to support distance learning. Therefore, this shift should be reflected in a substantial fee reduction.

It is essential to address that the online learning platform is not a sufficient alternative but rather a supplement to the third term education. In turn, we have to put in more than 5-7 hours a day, assisting children to complete the daily assigned lessons, providing resources, stationery, technology, not to mention the added mental strain and pressure of working from home simultaneously.

Having been on the Distance learning Program for a few weeks now, we want to note that the quality is not at a standard that is sufficient to achieve teaching the kids. This is due to the lack of interacting online classes. The very short session currently in place is being used as PR on social media. These social media channels could also be used for our feedback; however, we prefer to communicate this directly to you so that we can resolve this together.

Given the current situation, we have seen a lot of salary reductions, which in turn is putting us as parents in a disastrous financial situation, not knowing when this will end.

Finally, we want to highlight that at the start of this academic year, the School management was facing problems with a lack of home teachers for several classes in different grades, some students got their new teachers within weeks. However, other students had to wait for almost two months to get a home teacher. At that time, parents highly cooperated and paid the fees in full.

Please also note that the KHDA has rolled out an initiative for school fees reduction in reference to point 6 of the Distance Learning guidelines. It states that schools may want to provide additional support to parents who are experiencing financial difficulties. In these exceptional circumstances, schools are free to offer a discount on school fees during the period of distance learning. Many schools have in turn provided parents with a discounted fee.

These are challenging times for all of us, and we hope Newlands will play its part.

Your Co-operation shall be highly appreciated,