On a rainy afternoon last week, Tesfalem Hailu, 48, was waiting by the door to pick his two children up from School of Tomorrow, Bole Michael branch.
Tesfalem claims to have chosen the school for the quality of education after doing his own assessment.
The father of second and fifth graders, who pays 9,000 Br per child four times a year, is apprehensive about the anticipated tuition fee increment for the next school year. He did not attend the meeting called by the school management a couple of weeks ago, insinuating that the discussions would reflect their desire than parents’ voice.
He later learned from other parents that the school has proposed a 135pc increase. Tesfalem, the breadwinner for a family of four, insists he could only afford to add up to 30pc payments to the current fee.
He imports and installs GPS for vehicles, earning 50,000 Br a month, but the decrease in demand has made his income uncertain. Although a consensus between school management and parents is not yet reached, he is considering transferring his children to other schools with lower tuition fees.
“My criteria has shifted from quality to affordability now,” Tesfalem told Fortune.
Addis Abeba Education & Training Quality Regulatory Authority forced all the 1,558 private schools in the capital not to make any price adjustments on tuition fees last year. However, officials have come to the realisation that the general inflation that reached 33.7pc needs tweaking.
“They are also hit by high costs,” said Fikirte Abera, deputy head of the Authority.
Following the green light, private schools in the capital are contemplating adjusting their school fees for the next academic year, with the rate up for discussion between parents and the school management.
Fikirte explains that private schools are established to generate profits but must estimate their profit margin and propose to parents. The proposal should include expenses covered by additional payments, while registration costs should not exceed a quarter of the school fee.
Close to 473,880 students are registered in private schools. Renovation costs, high prices of stationery products and teachers’ salary increases are direct costs that prompted the fee adjustment.
