DAMMAM, 22 May — The Foreign Education Department at the Ministry of Education has directed the International Indian School in Dammam to form a new management committee after holding elections among the parents.
The school authorities have confirmed receiving the government notification and said it has been referred to the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. The ambassador is the patron of all Indian schools operating in the Kingdom.
The embassy, however, has not yet advised the school on the issue. According to one embassy official, the embassy is currently studying all issues pertaining to the school including board elections and a school charter.
“We are discussing these matters with the Education Ministry and once things are finalized we will make an appropriate announcement,” he said.
Elections to Indian schools in Jeddah and Riyadh were held nearly two years ago and elected representatives of parents are running the school affairs there. Elections have already been held to management boards of most other foreign schools in the Kingdom.
Indian Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad has made no secret of his aversion to conducting elections for the school committees. He is of the opinion that the embassy is the custodian of the affairs of the community and so the schools should be supervised by the mission.
The community is divided over the issue. Those who support the elections charge that the nominated managing committees in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam have indulged in scandalous financial deals and as a result incurred huge losses. As examples, they cited scandals involving a land deal and the transportation agreement at the Dammam school as well as the controversy surrounding the Jeddah school building.
They say that the school finances require complete transparency. Elections should be held because only elected managing committees could be held accountable for their actions.
The other side is of the view that the school will be politicized and divided on communal and regional lines if elections are held. They say that there is no guarantee that the elected members will have the ability and skill to run the school affairs. “Any one who can muster enough support, will win a seat in the committee,” one parent said.
This group maintains that the elections will undermine the authority of the principal who will be subjected to the whims of the parents’ representatives. They cited the example of Dr. Afsar Khan, the Riyadh school principal who had to leave the school unceremoniously after an elected committee took over charge. They want to uphold the status quo in the system and call for minimum interference in the school affairs either by the embassy or by the managing committee and say that the managing committee should be advisory in nature.
Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has released procedures, rules and regulations for the management boards of foreign schools in the Kingdom.
According to the guidelines, the management committee “will consist of seven members to be elected from amongst the parents of the school children through direct votes.”
The seven members will then elect a chairman and a vice chairman and a signatory from amongst themselves. It recommends a “one- to three-year, renewable tenure” for the elected bodies.
Concerning eligibility, the guidelines say that a candidate must be father of a student, member of the respective community, must hold university degree as minimum qualification, should not be member of another school committee, must produce a no-objection letter from his employer, and must not be a diplomat. The voters will cast their vote on preferential basis.
The guidelines are silent about many issues such as accountability and the course of action when an elected committee embroils itself in a major controversy or when the community loses faith in one or more members of the committee.
Another important factor ignored in the guidelines was the regional diversity of several guest communities. For example, the Indian community here represents several regions in the country with diverse linguistic, cultural and social identities. If the elections are held without giving proper representation to each region, chances of regional rivalry predominating the school affairs are high.
