The National Committee on Private and International Schools at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry expects 60% of these schools to raise annual tuition fees this year on higher operation costs. Factors include higher costs of hiring Saudi teachers, payment for recruitment visas for expat teachers, and insurance coverage to the teacher's dependents, as well as the teacher. The rise in operational costs by 20-25% will affect large and smaller schools, with the latter representing up to 50% of the sector, according to the head of the committee and member of the National Committee at the Council of Saudi Chambers, Malek Taleb. Schools that will raise fees are the larger ones in Jeddah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province, he predicted. Government support for private schools is very low at only SAR100/student annually, which is a problem for schools with less than 600 students, a member of the committee, Dakheel Allah Al-Johani, said. (Arab News)