Lankan school gets new board

Three parents from the community were appointed as members of board of management of the Sri Lankan International School in Riyadh, the school announced here yesterday.
The new board would comprise Mohammed Sameen Mohammed Azaar (chairman), Hisham Shaheed and Ruzni Farook.
School Principal Mohamed Habib Mohamed Huvailuddin said that an election committee appointed by the Ministry of Education appointed the new board. The new board will hold office for three years.
Earlier, the committee had called for nominations for members to the board from the parents. Huvailuddin, who was the chairman of the election committee, said: “We received six nominations from parents and only three were found eligible.”
The requirements to become board members include educational qualifications and a letter of consent from the local sponsor.
The seven-member election committee appointed by the Education Ministry included two parents, three officials from the school, an embassy representative and an official from the ministry.
The school, which has 65 teachers, has 1,025 students on its rolls with a 50:50 ratio of boys to girls.
Speaking to Arab News, School Chairman Azaar said that the new board has chalked out a strategic plan to face the challenges ahead.
“We will be appointing a new committee to streamline the implementation of government rules and regulations governing foreign schools,” Azaar said, indicating that the school needs to organize some visas to recruit Sri Lankan teachers from Colombo. “While acknowledging their services, we cannot fully depend on local recruits,” he said.
The chairman pointed out that the landlord of the school premises had already given notice either to vacate the premises or to purchase the building. “We need to have a short term and a long term plan about the school building,” he said, adding that the long-term plan is to have a permanent integrated building for the school.
Offering his congratulations and good wishes for the new board, the outgoing school chairman A.L.M. Hashim said that he is confident that the new set of office-bearers would take the institution to greater heights.