DAMMAM, 19 May — The election campaign for the International Indian School managing committee is gathering pace.
The school management is giving final touches to the election preparation, and has released a tentative list of those eligible to vote.
The foreign section of the Ministry of Education has instructed IIS, Dammam (IISD) to hold elections for the managing committee by June 13. The present committee chairman has previously stated that elections on June 13 were not definite, but that they would be held sometime around that date.
The school has already named members for the election supervising committee and the school management is also in touch with the Indian Embassy. However, the school has not yet received the revised guidelines from the Ministry of Education.
The Indian school in Jeddah is already in possession of these guidelines. The Indian schools in Riyadh and Jeddah already have an elected managing committee. But this is the first election in the IIS, Dammam.
The school principal has clarified in a circular that neither those who are fee defaulters nor those who are spouses of the school staff will be eligible to vote. The last date for paying outstanding fees was May 16.
Various regional groups are meeting each other to work out a formula so that voting influenced solely by regional biases does not result in a committee being elected that is not truly representative.
An initiative was taken by a group of Indians from Kerala in this regard and it was suggested that a joint panel should be fielded in the election. The group communicated with Hyderabadis and residents of other Indian states in order to get agreement on a panel which will represent all the regions, caste and religions. Under the formula, the group wants to put forward three candidates from Kerala, two from Hyderabad and one each from north India and other southern states.
There is no doubt that if such an agreement were to be reached the election for the committee would be more productive and worthwhile because the fear of regional polarization would be minimized.
Some aspects of the election have baffled the students’ parents, especially reports that two members of the existing nominated managing committee are set to file their nominations for the poll. These members have served for a long time and so, the parents feel, should now give others an opportunity to do so; and in any case the election statute states that only one person from an institution, organization or business establishment can contest the poll.