The cheapest and the most expensive schools in Dubai
The cheapest school in the Dubai fee list charges AED 3,310 a year. The most expensive charges AED 124,185. That is a difference of AED 120,875 per child per year and more than 37 times the price, inside one city and one regulator. Both ends come from the same file: KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), Dubai Private Schools Open Data, school year 2024/2025, published at web.khda.gov.ae/KHDA/media/KHDA/DubaiPrivateSchoolsOpenData.xlsx. The figure for each school is the median of its own grades 1 to 12, so a single expensive final year does not decide its place in the list.
The twelve cheapest schools
Annual tuition in AED, median across grades 1 to 12, school year 2024/2025.
| School | Curriculum | District | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crescent English School | Indian | AL QUSAIS FIRST | 3,310 |
| Iranian Salman Farsi Boys School | Iranian | AL QUSAIS FIRST | 3,310 |
| Little Flower English School | Indian | HOR AL ANZ | 3,749 |
| Iranian Khadije Kobra School | Iranian | AL KARAMA | 3,955 |
| National Charity School Primary | not stated | not stated | 4,614 |
| Gulf Model School | Indian | MUHAISNAH FIRST | 4,931 |
| H.H.Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School | Pakistani | AL QUSAIS FIRST | 5,000 |
| The Central School | Indian | AL NAHDA SECOND | 5,139 |
| New Indian Model School | Indian | AL GARHOUD | 5,409 |
| The Indian High School-Branch | Indian | AL GARHOUD | 5,525 |
| The National Charity School For Girls | not stated | not stated | 5,574 |
| Elite English School | Indian | Deira | 5,579 |
Seven of these twelve follow the Indian curriculum, two are Iranian community schools, one is Pakistani and two report no curriculum in the file. The districts repeat as well: three sit in Al Qusais, two in Al Garhoud, the others in Deira, Hor Al Anz, Al Karama, Al Nahda and Muhaisnah. These are the older northern parts of Dubai, and the cheap end of the school map follows the cheap end of the rental map almost street for street.
The twelve most expensive schools
Annual tuition in AED, median across grades 1 to 12, school year 2024/2025.
| School | Curriculum | District | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairgreen International School L.L.C | International Baccalaureate | Dubai Land | 82,400 |
| Hartland International School - FZ | UK and IB | Meydan City | 82,429 |
| Bilingual French International School L.L.C-FZ | French | Meydan City | 82,919 |
| Uptown International School | not stated | not stated | 86,078 |
| American School Dubai | American | AL BARSHA SECOND | 87,268 |
| Dunecrest American School L.L.C | American | Al Barari | 87,713 |
| GEMS Dubai American Academy - Dubai Branch | American | AL BARSHA SOUTH FIRST | 91,158 |
| Dwight School L.L.C | International Baccalaureate | Dubai Sports City | 96,249 |
| GEMS World Academy | International Baccalaureate | AL BARSHA FIRST | 100,027 |
| Jumeirah English Speaking School (Br) | UK and International Baccalaureate | Arabian Ranches | 100,578 |
| Swiss International FZ-LLC | not stated | not stated | 106,538 |
| North London Collegiate School Middle East L.L.C - FZ | International Baccalaureate | Meydan City | 124,185 |
Four of the twelve run the International Baccalaureate, three are American curriculum schools, two combine a British route with the IB, one is French and two report no curriculum. Three of them are in Meydan City, two in Al Barsha, the rest in Dubai Land, Al Barari, Dubai Sports City, Arabian Ranches and Al Barsha South. The top four all sit above AED 100,027: GEMS World Academy at AED 100,027, Jumeirah English Speaking School at AED 100,578, Swiss International at AED 106,538 and North London Collegiate at AED 124,185.
What the gap is actually made of
The distance between the two tables is not a quality scale. It is a curriculum and a site: the cheap schools teach a national curriculum in a dense older district in buildings that have been schools for decades, the expensive ones teach the IB or an American programme on newly built campuses in areas where land itself is expensive. A fee of AED 5,000 and a fee of AED 87,268 buy different class sizes, different facilities and different destinations after Grade 12, and both are legal, inspected and full.
The figures are annual tuition only. Registration and admission charges, school transport and books, uniforms, exam entry and trips sit outside them, so a family budget built on the tuition line alone comes out short. At the cheap end that matters proportionally more: a bus route can add a noticeable share to a fee of AED 4,931, while at the top end it disappears in the rounding.
Frequently asked questions
What is the cheapest private school in Dubai?
Two schools share the lowest figure in the list at AED 3,310 a year: Crescent English School, Indian curriculum, in Al Qusais, and Iranian Salman Farsi Boys School in the same district. Next come Little Flower English School at AED 3,749 and Iranian Khadije Kobra School at AED 3,955.
And the most expensive?
North London Collegiate School Middle East in Meydan City at AED 124,185 a year, an IB school. Swiss International follows at AED 106,538 and Jumeirah English Speaking School at AED 100,578.
Is a cheap school a bad school?
The fee list says nothing about inspection ratings, which the same authority publishes separately. Several of the schools in the first table have been operating in Dubai for decades with long waiting lists, at a fee under AED 5,579.
Why do two schools show no curriculum or district?
Those fields are empty in the source file for those entries. We leave them empty rather than guess, and the fee itself is reported: AED 4,614, AED 5,574, AED 86,078 and AED 106,538 for the four affected schools.
I want to compare schools near a specific address.
Use the form below. Give the district, the grade level and the fee range you have in mind; the enquiry reaches people in Dubai who answer directly, and it is not published.
Source and method
Every figure on this page comes from KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), Dubai Private Schools Open Data, school year 2024/2025. The file is published by the authority itself: web.khda.gov.ae/KHDA/media/KHDA/DubaiPrivateSchoolsOpenData.xlsx. We reproduce the numbers with the source named and do not present them as a survey of our own. The list covers 226 private schools in Dubai, 128 of which report a fee. Amounts are in UAE dirham per school year. A school is counted once per grade level, and the school figure used for rankings is the median of its own grades 1 to 12. The median is the value with half the schools above it and half below, which is steadier than an average because one very expensive school cannot pull it. Quartiles mark the middle half: a quarter of schools charge less than the lower quartile, a quarter charge more than the upper one. Figures are exact as published, not rounded.
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