DAMMAM: Mohammad Asghar Khan emerged the leading candidate in the rather low-key school management committee elections held in IIS Dammam on Thursday under the supervision of the Indian Embassy and Ministry of Education officials.
Other winners were Dr. Saleem ur Rehman, Mohammad Fayazzuddin, Aboobacker Kunnath Parambil, John Thomas, Shamshad Ahmed and S. Balamurali. Prominent among the losers was a chartered accountant/finance expert and another an IT specialist. Thomas and Fayazzuddin have been re-elected.
The polling really failed to take off as only 1,894 votes were polled, out of which 112 were declared invalid. It may be noted that there were around 7,500 eligible voters and this translates to about 25 percent only.
Questions were raised by many parents, who were witnessing the counting, that to what extent is a 25 percent vote really reflective of the wants of the entire parent community? It may be recalled that only 13 candidates had forwarded their candidature for this elections.
The previous elections had about 30 candidates contesting and the voter turnout was also higher in terms of percentage. Almost the same voters had voted last time but then the eligible voters were only around 5,500 translating to around 33 percent. Perhaps the low participation of parents shows their apathy.
Elections are not held in other major Indian schools like the Riyadh and Jeddah schools, where the embassy nominates the managing committee.
The performance of the outgoing committee in IISD, many felt, was good in parts. In spite of doing good work, they were mired in several controversies — notable being the cancellation of the foundation day celebrations. The cancellation took place for the first time in the history of the school and that too in its silver jubilee year.
Other issues are the appointment of another principal for the girls section, dissatisfaction among the teachers due to cancellation of various incentive schemes, and then finally the suspension of teachers. Four teachers were suspended for walking out when the chairman was addressing the teachers.
One member of the committee continued to be on board in spite of the fact that his last child had passed out last year. His continuation was a blatant violation of the school and the ministry norms, though his supporters have tried to interpret the law from a different perspective.
However, the new zest and enthusiasm among the winners does inspire some confidence. Almost all the winners opined that they would try their level best to improve the current situation in the school and specially look into matters pertaining to the teachers.
Talking to Arab News, Asghar Khan, the leading vote getter, was very optimistic and spelt his priority in ensuring total transparency, elevating the school discipline and creating more communication channels with the teachers so that more efficiency can be achieved.
