Parents crushed under pressure of school activities, fee hikes

By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: Parents are under a lot of financial pressure after schools have started to hold a host of post-pandemic events and activities. Parents have to provide their children with the required items such as clothes, souvenirs and many other things, not to mention extra homework assignments that cost parents a lot of money, along with private classes, whose fees are rising too.

Amidst the activities and events in schools, giving gifts to teachers has become a new trend that puts more pressure on parents. According to a parent, spending on extracurriculars exceeds KD 500 per semester to cover it all. "Some public schools constantly obligate their students to do extra homework that is not related to school subjects, and due to the study pressure, most of them rely on student services centers, which costs the parents lots of money every semester,” said Haya Al-Rashidi, assistant manager of a public school.

Rashidi said the school administration is mainly responsible for increasing demands by teachers, especially since this affects students’ grades if they do not submit their extra homework to the teacher. Rashidi said repeated school events and activities that require buying related items, especially for elementary and kindergarten grades, pile social pressure on parents, who cannot afford to constantly buy non-essential things. At the same time, they do not want to deprive their children from being treated the same as other kids.

Um Fahad, the mother of a high school student who attends a public school, complained about the high prices of the school’s study notes, which is not available in school and costs her almost KD 10 to print the notes for each subject. She said the total costs in a semester reach KD 100 to 120 KD to just print the notes from printing centers.

Um Fahad bemoaned the pressure on parents due to the amounts of money they must spend on preparing their children for school events. "Despite it not being an obligation for parents to bring, for example, souvenirs to distribute among students and teachers during traditional days, parents always buy expensive mementos, which places a huge burden on them,” she told Kuwait Times. On the reason why parents force themselves to buy such things, Um Fahad said, "many teachers treat the students who bring fancy souvenirs or gifts differently,” adding, "if other parents do not do the same, their children will be ignored”.

Um Ali, an expat mom whose kids go to a private English school, detailed to Kuwait Times about her monthly expenses for school events. "It varies from one school to another, but for me, I spend approximately KD 100 to KD 120 per month on clothes, souvenirs and other items related to school events. Gifts for teachers is necessary to keep the teacher’s focus on my child’s development,” she explained.

Um Ali said her child’s school usually holds three to four events a week. "The items we buy have a one-time use, which puts financial pressure on some parents who cannot afford these expenses but are forced to do it to not make their children feel different than their peers,” she said. "Meanwhile, schools are very strict regarding tuition fees, and they are not lenient with parents over payment. Earlier, schools charged KD 50 for registration fees, but now we have to pay KD 200 at the beginning of the semester,” she complained.

Dalia Al-Sayed, another expat whose children also attend a private English school, explained another side of the financial pressure on parents. "My children’s school increased its fees, which doesn’t match what they provide to our kids. Most teachers don’t explain lessons well, which forces us as working parents to hire a private tutor to teach them,” she said.

Sayed told Kuwait Times that she tried many times to pay the school fees in full at the beginning of the year, but the school doesn’t allow this in order to constantly increase the fees, which by the end of the semester rise by 7 percent. "Every two months, the school issues a revision book and forces students to buy it from them for KD 10, while printshops sell it for only KD 1.250. But the school principal told me he will not allow the teachers to teach my kids if I buy the book from outside,” she said.

The financial controller of the Private Education Department of the Ministry of Education told Kuwait Times there is no law that obligates parents to participate in extracurricular events. He said if students are subjected to any kind of pressure from schools, they should visit the department and submit an official complaint, which will be taken seriously and in complete confidentiality. He said penalties for such complaints reach the point of canceling a school's license, adding "this is what actually happened to a school two weeks ago”.