Indian run schools raise transport fees by 240 per cent

Dubai, Jun 19 (UNI) In a major blow to Indian parents here, schools run by NRI entrepreneur Sunny Varkey's Global Educational Management Systems (GEMS) have raised transport fees by upto a whopping 240 per cent as the service was outsourced to a private company.

Indians already find it diffult to maintain families in Dubai due to high cost of living and soaring rents.

The shocked parents got a circular yesterday, issued by the Bright Bus Transport Company, which manages over a dozen GEMs schools' transport.

A parent told that the fees had been raised to 800 dirhams per month instead of 700 dirhams for a semester of three months earlier.

Mr Sonny Varkey, one of the successful businessmen in Dubai, also runs schools in Britain and a network of schools in the UAE offering CBSE, O level and other syllabi.

In reply to a query on why there was no uniformity in the transport fee charged, the bus company manager said, ''the transport fee is determined by the status the school enjoys.'' UNI XC SKB PM1030