A Complete Guide to Indian School Fees in Dubai (2025 Edition)

So, here’s the thing. If you’re living in Dubai and looking into schools for your kids, you already know it’s a bit of a puzzle. Especially if you’re sticking to Indian curriculum schools. Everyone’s talking about tuition and hidden charges, and honestly, figuring out what “Indian school fees in Dubai” really means can feel like a job by itself.

When we moved here, I had no idea how wide the fee range would be. One school quoted around AED 7,000 a year, and another one? AED 19,000 — for basically the same grade. And we’re not even counting uniforms, books, bus fees (don’t get me started on that), and random extras like “activity fees” or lab stuff.

Most Indian schools here follow CBSE, and yeah, they’re familiar if you’ve grown up with it. That’s a plus. But the costs still surprised me. Some folks get lucky and find decent schools with tuition around AED 8k–10k. But others, especially those going for newer schools with fancy campuses, are easily paying closer to 18k–20k. Depends on what you’re looking for, I guess.

And transport? It adds a decent chunk. We live a little far from school, so that’s around AED 3,500 just for the bus. Uniforms and books? Another couple of thousand. That stuff isn’t talked about much, but it adds up.

One thing that helped us was asking the school directly if they offer term-wise payment. Turns out most do. Some even offer sibling discounts, which was a bonus we didn’t expect. It’s just that — unless you ask — no one tells you these things.

To be fair, the quality is there. Most schools we checked had good teachers, proper classrooms, and enough extracurricular stuff. But you’ve got to visit the place to get a feel. Fees alone won’t tell you if your kid will be happy.

In the end, I’d say — don’t look at just numbers. Understand what the full year will cost you. Tuition is just one part. Ask about everything — from admission fees to transport to whether they charge for school events. You’ll get a much clearer picture.

Anyway, that’s just what we figured out after going through the whole process. If you’re searching around or planning, hopefully, this gives you a bit more clarity on how Indian school fees in Dubai work.