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St Christopher's School this week announced a 10 per cent increase in the school fees from September in a bid to attract and retain good teachers.
The school board of governors has had the unenviable task of trying to balance the wishes of parents to keep fees as low as possible at the same time as meeting the demands for top quality professionals to teach their children.
The salaries of its overseas contract teachers have fallen "significantly behind" those teachers in the UK over the past few years and previous attempts to raise salaries sufficiently to close the gaps in pay have been "thwarted" by the continuing low value of the US dollar, which is linked to the Bahrain dinar, parents were told.
In a letter from Mohamed Moradi, chairman of the school's board of governors, he said that although he knew that any rises would be difficult for some families to absorb, he hoped parents would appreciate "the necessity" for the increase.
"Failure to offer competitive salaries would leave St Christopher's with a near impossible challenge in finding the right calibre of teachers for our school," he explained.
"We have noted that other excellent international schools are increasing fees significantly for next school year and several schools in the region already match UK pay-rates - a situation which, even with this rise, we will still be short of," he added. "Further, there are no indications that a significant rise in the US dollar is likely in the short term and expenses, such as accommodation costs, in the local market continue to escalate."
As a result, parents with two children at St Christopher's School, aged five and eight, for example, will have to find a total of BD1,975 per term from September. The school fee increase has been approved by the Ministry of Education.
