EXPATRIATE families based in Dubai are being forced to send their children back to their home countries because they cannot afford to educate them in the United Arab Emirates, said the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Secondary school education costs increased by 25 per cent in 2008 and 15 per cent in 2007, while primary education costs advanced 19 per cent in 2008, the chamber said in an e- mailed statement on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg news.

Secondary school education cost between 3,000 dirhams (S$1,193) and 58,000 dirhams a year in 2008, according to the chamber.

An influx of foreign workers has put pressure on services in Dubai, contributing to annual inflation of 11.1 per cent in the UAE in 2007. UAE rents also soared in 2007, rising an annual 15 per cent.

'With the recent price escalations in the cost of education, more and more families are having no choice but face the reality that they cannot afford the cost of education in Dubai, and they have to send their teenage children home for higher education,' the chamber said.