Foreign students attending Indian schools need to pay more fees

T TV Thursday 10/March/2022 00:18 AM
By: Times News Services

Muscat: Non-Indian students who are seeking admission to Indian schools in Oman will have to pay more fees than their Indian classmates.

A member of the Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman has said that the practice is standard among all school systems set up in the country to educate children from the country’s expatriate communities.

“It is true that foreign students who seek admission to Indian schools in Oman will need to pay about 20 percent more than their fellow Indian students,” he said. “As a community school system, we are primarily set up to provide education to the Indian community here in Oman, just as other communities in the country have their own system.

“Our first responsibility is, therefore, towards the students from our own community, and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Education enable us to charge more fees from foreign students,” he added. “This is a practice followed by all the community schools in the country.”

While Indian schools in Oman do not operate exclusively for the Indian community in the country, they were for a long time unable to take foreign students as there was not enough space to accommodate the Indian students themselves.

COVID created seat vacancies

However, the COVID-19 pandemic led to many Indian families and their students heading back to India, leading to vacancies in schools. The opening of the new Indian School Bousher has also led to additional classroom capacity.

“Earlier, it was difficult for even Indian students to find admission in our schools because there was no room, which meant they were going to private schools or other community schools,” said the board member. “Because there was no space, we were not able to accept foreign students, unless under exceptional circumstances.

“Now, the strength of each class has decreased by at least 10 students and we are in a position to accept foreign students,” he added. “We will never turn back any student who comes to us for education, if we can accept them. The only admissions we cannot take are Omani students, as the law states that they need to be educated in their own schools. However, there are few exceptional circumstances under which we can take them as well.”

Indian schools in Oman

Admissions for the new academic term that begins in April 2022 are currently being processed. There are currently 21 Indian schools in Oman.

Seven of them – Indian School Muscat, Indian School Al Ghubra, Indian School Al Wadi Al Kabir, Indian School Darsait, Indian School Al Seeb, Indian School Al Maabela and Indian School Bousher – are located in the capital, Muscat.

Two more schools are located in the Dhofar in Thumrait and Salalah, while there are also schools in Khasab in northern Musandam Governorate and for Masirah Island. Indian schools are also present in Saham, Buraimi, Rustaq, Jalan, Ibra, Ibri, Sur, Nizwa, Muladha and Sohar. To know more about the Indian school system in Oman, please visit www.indianschoolsoman.com