RIYADH, 6 April — Friends and relatives of local journalists working at the International Indian School, Riyadh (IISR), are being harassed by the lame-duck school managing committee.
The managing committee was led by Wasi Haider Rizvi, whose tenure has in fact expired. His term was punctuated by alleged financial misappropriations, widespread corruption, a scandal involving exorbitant charges for text books, and allegations of nepotism in the recruitment of over one hundred teachers.
Several cases of harassment came to light when Arab News ran a story about scandals surrounding the activities of the IISR governing panel recently. Other English dailies have been widely reporting fraud and embezzlement and the creation of six new top positions at the school, all at the expense of the parents.
The school has two principals as of last week, making it the first Indian school in the world to have two heads, in direct contravention of regulations laid down by the Central Board of Secondary Education in New Delhi.
The second principal was appointed by a special meeting of the IISR panel, which was chaired by Z. Rahman, information officer at the Indian Embassy. Three senior IISR officials separately confirmed to Arab News that “it was Rahman’s decision to appoint the second principal, a move which was reluctantly supported by some panel members and officials.”
The decision was supported by P.T. Karthikaian, who should not even be a member of the IISR panel as his children are no longer at the school.
Karthikaian has been quoted as saying in the last meeting of the panel: “Sack all the friends and relatives of the hostile press.” This member, who has been playing sectarian card in the school, was personally involved in transport, cleaning and furniture supply scandals.
Rizvi has been reported by three independent school officers as saying that “the embassy is in my pocket. I can do whatever I like. Let the journalists know that I have sacked Afsar Khan (the former principal), and what to say to hostile teachers and newsmen.”
Asked about the agenda of the governing body meeting to be convened tonight, Afzal Ali Jagirdar, a panel member, said that it has been abruptly postponed. However, a number of parents said the panel will be meeting secretly, as they fear the possibility that they will be physically assaulted by enraged parents of the 500 students abandoned in the school’s corridors, despite the fact that their parents were ready to give signed undertakings that they would pay outstanding tuition fees.
A proposition that an inquiry be set up to probe the alleged embezzlement of some SR6 million in school funds has been reluctantly supported by Rahman, who hastily added that he “is not involved in the affairs of the school”. However, senior school officials said that all decisions are being made by Rahman himself, who is also acting as coordinator of the Indian schools operating in the Kingdom.
The IISR, which was once a prestigious institution, has been made a “school for scandal” by the Rizvi-led panel. Similar autocratic handling of the affairs of the school led to the recent scene, when Rizvi and Jagirdar rolled up their sleeves and fought one another during a press conference last year. That followed a lawsuit which Jagirdar had won, proving again that “a group of five clowns will never defeat a right cause.”
