Response to DIS Newsletter 16/4/2020

Request you to understand the current economic situation and give us some relaxation in school fees. I have 2 kids in the school since last 8 years & we have never deferred in paying the fees. This is the time when we want school to support all the parents.

DIS concerned authorities should give atleast a minimum of 25% fee rebate NOW like other schools have been doing; considering the costs, expenses and financial setback we are facing NOW. School facilities aren't being used , no cost of maintenance,DEWA etc therefore School should refund the excess amount through fee reduction. Secondly, Online teaching standard is not to challenging enough to prepare the year 10 students for next year IGSE exams. The quality of physical learning and virtual learning is not the same, so the fees should be charged accordingly.

A 10% granted on next year school fees is an insult for all the families that are suffering NOW pay cuts, job loss, etc. More than that, school should also objectively consider the poor level of the service they offered during term 1 and now the fact that we are paying for labs, gyms, swimming pool, libraries, etc while our children are not using. We are in this together, school and parents, and we all should face it equally: the 10% is not even close to be fair.

Parent of Simon (IB2) , Paloma (Y9) and Santos (Y8)

School needs to address this issue immediately, they're acting as if they dont know what's happening with parents/families.. Next year fees will be addressed at its own time, the 10% is not acceptable! It simply means you're disconnected from the community.

I really feel the school Need to address the situation and the online learning for grade 2 or lower seems really difficult they are not able to focus and subjects like maths is very difficult to hope their attention and this is not helping. If both the parents are working from home it’s very difficult to focus on the child’s online studies. How is the school helping us when I wrote to the school about helping us to ease the payment they haven’t got back on what are the solutions and also they mentioned that the transportation will be deducted the company will get in touch with you I haven’t heard back from them until now . When we are in salty cuts why would I pay the entire fee now and wait for them to deduct it next year . Do we know when will the school start again so why would I pay the entire fee any help would be good now in these days not later

My husband is a small business owner, his shop in Naif area , for past 3 weeks his shop is closed due to that area being sealed , we don’t know when everything will restart . We don’t have monthly salaries coming in every month , in fact we need to pay the staff. How can we pay these heathy school fees ? Please grant some time for this payment Until all businesses resume back to normal .

The 10% rebate on tuition fees to be offset against fees for the next academic year is extremely disappointing !! The above mentioned points are valid to enable each parent eligible for a discount due to the Covid-19 situation. All government entities like DEWA and Etisalat, mall owners and even Al Futtaim group have offered 3 months discounts or waivers for utility bills and rents and the school has also benefited from the same due to non utilization of premises. Most of us have been instructed to utilize our unused leave for the year 2020 and many are also on unpaid leaves from our organization; although unwillingly and yet have been instructed to work remotely from home- for which we do not have a choice due to future uncertainty regarding our jobs. That does not mean that we are in dispensable. The clarification offered for expenses for teachers and staff to deliver a high quality e-learning program and to maintain the core member team for the next academic year are not justified. Salary cuts have to be borne across the board- including school and employees alike. Lastly we have never asked a school to provide justification or break down of their financials for each term against all their expenses hence it’s very demeaning to ask parents disclose their personal information for fee waivers. We require a reasonable discount of 25% to be offered as a cash rebate now and not against fees for next year. With reference to the petition raised by all parents without being biased as, we are all in this together and your support in this time of need will be much appreciated. Awaiting for further feedback

school fees should down by 50%

2 kids yr1-2.

We need your support today not next year. Thank you

Request for discount for third term

All we are looking for is support from the school in the current uncertain situation. This is the time to help not in the future.

13 yr with DIS and we have to appeal to the school!Relief should have been offered to the parents long time back.Pls

Supporting the petition for the request of higher discount than the 10% extended.

As stated in attachment

I confirm this petition

I have interacted with several parents and I am afraid that the below is fully unappreciated by all of the parents as we talk over groups discussions. DIS keeps on proving that the way they are dealing with the COVID-19 is from a pure school’s business P&L but not looking at it from the side of being socially responsible of the community of parents taking into consideration the potential future financial threat we are going to face! On the long run, all parents have built up a perception that the school is being driven commercially rather than being a community player in contrast to what Ms. Ruth spoke about the school role for the community. At the moment, as a father, I am accountable toward my family providing a survival plan therefore I see that my primary focus now is reducing the financial risk . Not discounting the teachers efforts which we greatly appreciate and we can tangibly notice their daily involvement in the curriculum plan for the rest of the year, I have to say that my wife and I are working parents and yet we are expected to be involved as full time teaching the little ones ( twins in year 1) . we do not see this as feasible or reasonable to keep paying the full fees. On the other hand I am not comfortable to disclose confidential information about my company’s P&L at this stage but I can assure you that since February I haven’t done any sales! on the same note, we receive a letter from the Director on Thursday asking us to promote the school and attract new kids transforming us as parents to marketeers for DIS where at this stage ,all we need is the school full support to overcome this challenging situation and stand by us as we stood by the school for the last 9 years ! A 10% discount is ridiculous and totally unacceptable especially that the amount is to be discounted from next academic year The school support to the community is needed now, Covid-19 is happening now not in the future while this future is still unc

I believe school should reduce fees at least 20 to 25% since the students are not using the school facilities! Specially after some government entities also announced that they have reduced the prices like the electricity !

The online learning is ineffective for Y5, there is no interaction betwenn student and teacher, which means its homework set and feedback is given later with kids being referred to youtube in some cases. The secondary online learning is more effective. Given the cost savings due to the campus closure, the school needs to apply the discount on this year fees and look to other equivalent schools reductions of 20 to 25%. The discount of 10% on Term 3 applied to next years fee is laughable and provides no relief since the need is now. I will be looking to other schools next year.