Muscat - The education services sector in Oman is driving up inflation, data has revealed. Statistics released by the National Center for Statistics and Information shows that the cost of providing education has risen from 3.4 per cent in 2011 to 15.1 per cent in 2012 and 16.3 per cent in 2013.
Inflation in the sector is the highest among all other items on the Consumer Price Index.
According to a Central Bank of Oman report, the contribution of education services to overall inflation rose from three per cent in 2011 to 17.4 per cent in 2012 and further to 45.4 per cent during January-September 2013.
Tonny George Alexander, chairman, Board of Directors, Indian Schools in Oman that oversees 19 schools comprising 41,000 students and 1,400 teachers, said this is due to a big jump in staff salaries over the past two years.
"Staff salaries comprise a major part of our school expenses. We have to get teachers from India and they demand high salaries.
"We have high operating costs, and keeping the three per cent annual inflation in mind, there is no option but to increase fees to meet these expenses. Our schools don't make any profit."
Parents, too have been burdened by the annual increase in school fees.
"Whether the increase is in the form of tuition fees, transportation or other services, education in private schools has become expensive," said Saeed Khalfan, the father of five school-going children.
He said that the education in Oman's schools is much costlier than some recognised higher education institutions abroad. "How can you justify an annual hike of RO200 per child?" he asked.
Danny Harrison, principal of Azzan bin Qais International School in Bausher, said, "A number of decisions have been implemented since 2011, like the RO325 minimum salary rule. The cost of living has gone up, too. In the long run, all these expenses have to be borne by students.
"For example, it has become mandatory that all school buses should have supervisors. If we have 19 buses, this means we need extra staff to manage them. We have kept the hike to a bare minimum of five per cent, but it is not enough."
Harrison said that staff members have to be hired from abroad and the cost of their accommodation has also gone up. "We have 148 staff members and a majority of them come from abroad."
Professor Mohan Varma, dean at Waljat College of Applied Sciences, said rising cost of education is a global phenomenon.
"If you provide quality education, then you have to hire top teachers, which makes education expensive. We are also finding it difficult to cope with the rising costs and have requested the concerned authorities to allow us to increase the fees."
© Muscat Daily 2014
