RIYADH, 1 May 2005 — The seven-member Management Committee (MC) of the Indian International School in Riyadh was dissolved by the Ministry of Education due to differences among its members.
The letter dated April 25 from the Ministry of Education notifying the dissolution was served to the principal of the school, Manzar J. Siddiqui. This was circulated among the seven members of the panel. The day-to-day affairs of the school will be run by a three-member committee headed by the school principal and two members from the tutorial administrative staff of the institution.
The decision of the ministry to disband the MC came following a representation by four members of the MC. These members leveled a series of allegations against the committee chairman Niaz Ahmed Khan. Another representation was also made to the Indian Ambassador M.O.H. Farook to hold an impartial inquiry into the alleged malpractices and elect a new chairman replacing Khan.
In response to the representation, the envoy sought the intervention of the Ministry of Education. The tenure of the terminated committee was to end in November this year.
The boys’ and girls’ sections of the school have strength of 10,000 students with an administrative and tutorial staff of some 400 members. The allegations against the dissolved committee included misappropriation of school funds, use of school’s movable properties such as vehicles, furniture, musical instruments for private purposes, award of contracts according to the whims and fancies of the chairman, malpractices in the conduct of the last CBSE examination and appointment of teachers and sectional heads ignoring the customary regulations of the institution. It was also alleged that tuition fees dues have shot up to SR800,000 and outstanding bills payable by the school were estimated at SR300,000 during the tenure of the committee.