DAMMAM, 1 October — Uneasiness prevails among the parents of the students of the International Indian School here over the unexplained delay in elections for the new managing committee.
Nearly four months ago, the Saudi Ministry of Education issued recommendations for these elections. The circular released by the ministry also gave guidelines and procedures. The general perception at that time was that since the final examinations were closing in, the elections to the panel might be held after the re-opening of the school in August.
The present committee members, as well as school officials, then agreed that the elections were imminent and the likely date for them sometime in September. But still, to the dismay of the students and parents, no election date has been set.
The Indian ambassador’s opposition to the election in the school is no secret. He has expressed his opinion on many occasions on the role of the Indian Embassy in the school affairs. In a recent meeting with Indian school principals in Riyadh, Talmiz Ahmad, the Indian envoy, categorically said that “the embassy is not going to wash its hands off the schools.”
There is no denying the fact that the Indian mission has got a role to play in everything that Indians are involved in doing. This goes for the schools, where nearly 40,000 Indian students are enrolled.
But what Ambassador Ahmad has to realize is that the Indian schools cannot play to the whims of Indian diplomats. When a new envoy takes over from his predecessor, he has his own ideas and rules about the school.
The story goes back to the 1980s, when the then Ambassador Ishrat Aziz saw fit to stretch the tenure of the then managing committee to ten years with a free hand to adopt any policy. Aziz left. Then entered Rakesh Kumar, the then charge d’affaires who immediately sought the resignation of the managing committee headed by the late Dr. Rashiduzaffar, and installed his own committee.
He reversed Aziz’s policies and started interfering in almost all matters of the school, from transportation to buildings and even admissions and appointments. Then came Muhammad Hamid Ansari, a veteran diplomat and a man of undisputed integrity. He mooted the idea of elected managing committees.
“The Indian mission in Saudi Arabia has many other things to do and it cannot get involved in the everyday affairs of the school. The community should run their schools,” Ansari said.
It was he who went to the Saudi Ministry of Education and suggested elections to the international schools managing committees. Now the present ambassador opposes elections and wants a definite and strong role for the Indian Embassy in the school affairs. What the move of the next ambassador will be is anybody’s guess, and in any case the Indian community has to wait for another year or so for a new envoy to take over.
What these diplomats have failed to understand is that their whimsical attitude is the cause of all the problems of the Indian schools in the Kingdom. The frequently changing policies led to a total ad-hocism and deprived these schools of stability and continuity.
The present uncertainty about the elections in the Dammam school adds up to confusion only. Of three major Indian schools in the Kingdom, Dammam is the only one yet to have elections. The present committee, undoubtedly the best, has entered its fourth year. It was appointed for one year only but during the past three years some members already left the Kingdom, reducing its strength from nine nominated members to five, the principal being the ex-officio member.
The parents of the schoolchildren maintain that the present committee has lost its purpose now and many important issues are sidetracked or shelved. They cite examples of school buildings and other infrastructure projects.
Shujat Husain, a Hyderbadi parent, says that election or no election, there should be a new committee with new members. Many other parents who favor elections echo his sentiments.
“When the Saudi Ministry of Education has ordered elections to the school committee then the delay is unexplained,” said Krishnakant of Delhi.
M. Kutty of Trivandrum believes that the elections to the committee are the only solution. “It will ensure transparency and accountability.”
M. Rasool of Karnataka also believes that the election should be held at the earliest time.
There is no denying the fact that the elections will politicize the school atmosphere, but the experiments in Riyadh and Jeddah have shown that such politicization was minimal. The ambassador himself admitted that he did not have any grievance against the Riyadh school. So why not continue with the experiment and have an elected committee for the Indian school in Dammam as well?
The ambassador, in any event, will continue to be the patron of the school and that way he is not going to wash his hands off it.