DAMMAM, 22 March 2004 — The appointment of a new principal for the International Indian School in Dammam (IISD) has been put on the backburner, but the byzantine politicking and rumor-mongering continues unabated.
The present principal Muhammad Anwar, who is already on an extension, is due for retirement in June. Normally, a new principal is hired during the tenure of the old to ensure a smooth transition.
The school statute says the principal is appointed by a board comprising educators, a member of the Central Board of Secondary Education (to which all Indian schools in the Kingdom are affiliated), a representative of the managing committee and the existing principal of the school.
The selection board was constituted without controversy. It met in December last year in New Delhi and shortlisted three candidates. Two more were put on a waiting list.
According to one of the educators on the board, Afsar Khan, a former principal of the International Indian School in Riyadh (IISR), topped the list, followed by Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmad, currently principal at an Indian school in Aligarh, and Muhammad Aijaz, then principal at an Indian school in Qatar.
Aijaz was recommended on condition that the school seek clarification from the CBSE about his qualification, according to the source. The school has not yet sought clarification.
The school managing committee rejected Afsar Khan unanimously as he allegedly left the IISR under a cloud, according to parents.
“Why did the managing committee accept his application in the first place?” asked Ali Abbas, a parent. “And when the selection board put him on the shortlist, why did the chairman not inform the managing committee about his allegedly dubious role in the Indian school in Riyadh.”
Under the statute, the school managing committee must now submit the name of its chosen candidate to the Higher Board, which consists of chairmen of the Indian schools in the Kingdom and members nominated by the Indian Embassy. An embassy official and a representative of the Saudi Education Ministry sit in as observers.
Once Khan was out of the running, Khwaja Iftikhar Ahmad was next in line. But school chairman Koya Anachirayil put Muhammad Aijaz forward for the post in the Higher Board meeting in January, citing Aijaz’s experience in the Gulf.
But in a secret ballot the Higher Board unanimously approved Khwaja instead.
The story should have ended here. But the chairman then reportedly questioned the legality of the Higher Board, and a campaign was launched through the letters column of several newspapers, alleging the Higher Board was a tool of the Indian Embassy to interfere in school matters.
The managing committee was divided. One of the members of the managing committee protested at the “autocratic style” of the chairman and requested that he be relieved of all the posts of the sub-committee. Several charges of favoritism emerged over appointments of members.
The chairman, meanwhile in a letter to the Indian ambassador, questioned the minutes of the Higher Board prepared by an embassy observer.
Critics of elected managing committees say the system means community schools become politicized and pupils suffer in the process.
