The school says the new payment provides a safe and advanced legal framework that allows parents to pay fees in Bitcoin or Ethereum. The move comes as Dubai adopts a new law to regulate virtual assets.
A school based in Dubai will begin later this year start accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for tuition fees. According to a press release, parents of the UK-curriculum Citizens School that is scheduled to open in September this year will be allowed to pay fees in Bitcoin or Ethereum.
We equip our teachers to be mentors
The school, which will be the first one in the Middle East to accept digital currency, said crypto would be accepted via a partnership with a cryptocurrency platform that will automatically convert them to UAE Dirhams. The school’s founder Dr. Adil Alzarooni said:
“A while ago, cryptocurrency was only a floating term among well-versed investors. However, today cryptocurrency is becoming much more mainstream, reshaping the traditional financial system […] Citizens is disrupting the education sector by re-imagining every element of the learning experience – be it the way our children learn, how we equip our teachers to be mentors, what our learners choose to wear, or the ways that parents can pay for tuition.”
Become an incubator for entrepreneurial ideas and children-led innovation
The move comes when the Dubai government has just adopted its first law regulating virtual assets, ensuring a safe and advanced legal framework for investors. The school has said it acted in line with the nation’s goal to become a global hub for cryptocurrency as market capitalization hits $1.9 trillion.
Apart from striving to help place the UAE at the center of the global digital economy, Citizens School aims to deliver growth aligned with the UAE Centennial 2071, mainly by providing an excellent education for a diversified knowledge economy. The school seeks to become an incubator for entrepreneurial ideas and children-led innovation. Hisham Hodroge, the chief executive of Citizens School, said:
“Introducing the ability to pay tuition fees through cryptocurrencies goes beyond just providing another payment option […] it is also a means to drive further interest in the applications of blockchain — a technology that Citizens School intends to deploy, in time, across several aspects of its academic and administrative operations.”
Today’s children will become the entrepreneurs and investors of tomorrow
The Citizens School has partnered with a leading group of schools in the United Kingdom to create the ‘Citizen’s Tapestry’. This refers to a schooling experience that centers on future-proofing students by equipping them with a rich, connected bank of knowledge and skills relevant to the 21st century through its custom-built curriculum. The curriculum is based on UK National Curriculum and enriched with six key threads – Minds. Alzarooni said:
“By introducing this new payment facility, we look forward to enhancing the role of young generations in achieving the UAE’s digital economy. As more people embrace the era of digitalization, today’s children will become the entrepreneurs and investors of tomorrow.”
