RIYADH: The Ministry of Education has dissolved the Bangladesh International School’s management board after its members reached the end of their three-year terms.
“We have requested the principal of the school to look after administrative affairs for the school until a new board takes up office,” Director of National and International Education at the Ministry of Education Moiz Al-Qahtani told Arab News.
He added that the decision had been conveyed to board members through the principal and to the Bangladesh Embassy.
Due to the size of the student body, Al-Qahtani said the ministry has requested the school to appoint seven management board members instead of five, as was the case previously. Ministry rules state schools that have less than 1,000 students should have five members and seven for those with over 1,000 students. At present, the school has 1,350 students enrolled.
The country’s embassy reserves the right to appoint new members to the board or it can ask parents to participate in an election. “The ministry would then conduct an election, which will follow a call for nominations from parents,” Al-Qahtani explained.
He added in such cases a secret ballot would be held and that nominees should fulfill the criteria laid down by the Ministry of Education. All members of the board should be parents.
Principal Mohamed Shaheed Mohamed Hussein said that with increasing student numbers, the new board has to develop new strategies to provide state-of-the-art education to new pupils who will have great expectations.
“We have a success rate of 90 percent in the EdExcel and IGCSE exams conducted by Cambridge University,” Hussein said, adding most graduates are currently pursuing higher education at universities and colleges in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
An official from the Bangladeshi Embassy told Arab News that it might allow parents to elect board members. “It is nothing but right for the parents to elect the right people for these posts to run their own school,” he added.
An official decision from the mission is expected shortly.
