The old belief about good education being the real wealth that every parent bequeaths upon his or her children has of late acquired a new sub-text — that this wealth comes at a very high cost for parents. In the UAE, it’s about Dh1 million per child per year, the highest average in the world, according to a survey by a global insurance provider. The figure is based on the total cost of education of two years at preschool, six years at primary school, six years at secondary school and three years at a United Kingdom university. And this is just for one child.
The survey’s other findings are equally startling: 64 per cent of parents said that they were willing to get into a debt for the sake of their children’s education, while 41 per cent said that funding their offspring’s education is more important than savings.
These are hard facts that need to be studied beyond their headline-grabbing value.
By any yardstick, about Dh1 million is a substantial sum of money to be apportioned for education alone, given that there are other indispensables in life such as housing, household expenses and living costs that need to be squeezed into the limited bracket of a monthly budget.
While quality education is a boon for every child, what are the factors that make it so expensive in the UAE? And can these factors be studied by the stakeholders concerned to see if there can be a course correction so that it lessens the burden on parents, a majority of whom are salaried individuals?
If quality education is truly meant to be a knowledge treasury that’s the right of every child, its real value must be placed above considerations of its cost.
