JEDDAH, 4 June — The managing committee of the International Indian School, Jeddah, has set up a special panel to draw up a comprehensive plan to further improve the school’s academic standards. This was disclosed to Arab News by M. Abdul Rahim, chairman of the committee.
He said the panel, comprising the director and the principal of the school and a number of management committee members, would start its work today and submit its proposals within the next few weeks.
The chairman also revealed that 16 new teachers for science, mathematics, physics, English and economics would join the school in two weeks to one month. They were recently recruited in New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay and Cochin. The new teachers will replace teachers hired on a temporary basis and those who were not performing well, he added.
Abdul Rahim said the committee had decided to give performance awards to the best teachers from this year onward. The principal and the director have been authorized to pick up the award-winning teachers. “We have also decided to link salary increments to performance level. It’s no more automatic,” he said.
The new management committee, which took over in 1999, introduced in-service courses for teachers for the first time this year to keep them abreast of the latest developments in various subjects and enhance their teaching capabilities.
A course on “Communicative Approach to English Teaching” conducted recently was applauded by the teachers. A similar course will be conducted for math teachers this month by the principal, Shamsuddin Tabrez.
Abdul Rahim commended the IISJ teachers and students for achieving excellent results in the Central Board of Secondary Education examinations. “Our students have registered an all-time record this year, securing the highest marks in biology, political science, economics, business studies, Arabic and geography in Class XII exams.”
Asked about the reason for the failure of 19 students in the Class XII examinations, Abdul Rahim said it was mainly because of the liberal promotion policy adopted last year. Forty students who failed in Class XI examinations were allowed to take supplementary tests and had been promoted to Class XII following pressure from parents. “The absence of regular teachers due to sick leave and resignations was another reason for the poor results.”
However, Abdul Rahim said despite all these the school secured a high number of distinctions and first classes in Class XII. The number of distinctions rose from 150 in 2000 to 223 this year and 71 percent secured first classes compared to 55 percent last year. IISJ secured 99.7 percent results in Class X exams this year. “The results were much better than we expected.”
Spelling out the committee’s achievements during the past two years, Abdul Rahim said it had done its best to improve academic standards and discipline. “We raised the salary of teachers to boost their morale and upgraded the system to evaluate teacher performance. We also rearranged the transport system and introduced security patrolling around the girls section.”
He said the committee was able to purchase eight buses from Toyota dealership almost for the price of seven. He added that it would buy another eight buses to replace old ones. “We have introduced a new purchasing policy to cut spending and ensure transparency,” he added. “We are planning to introduce a day-boarding system for students in higher classes to help them concentrate on studies and participate in extra curricular activities.”
