The ministry dissolved the school’s board of management on completion of its tenure in December last year and requested the school principal, Mohamed Shaheed Mohamed Hussein, to run the school until a new board is elected.
“We have appointed a seven-member committee to conduct the elections for which the nominations from candidates will close on April 10,” said Moiz Al-Qahtani, supervisor general of foreign education at the Ministry of Education. He added that the principal will notify parents on Wednesday.
The seven-member election committee includes the principal as its chairman and Al-Qahtani as the Ministry of Education representative. The other five members are Mizanur Rahman, commercial counselor of the Bangladesh Embassy, parents Shafeequl Islam and Mohamed Mohinudeen Mazumder, and school staff Ariff Haleem and Mohamed Salahudeen Khan.
Al-Qahtani said that considering the increased strength of the school, the ministry has requested the school to appoint seven members instead of five. According to ministry rules, schools that have less than 1,000 students should have five members and those institutions that have more than 1,000 students should have seven members. At present, the school has 1,350 students on roll with 88 tutorial staff members. Al-Qahtani said the Bangladesh Embassy has reserved the right to appoint new members to the board or allow parents to elect board members.
“The mission has opted for the elections in lieu of the nominations,” he said. He added that the elections will be held through secret ballots and nominees should meet the Ministry of Education’s criteria, which includes the requirement that all board members are parents of students. “The decision of the election committee on all matters regarding the polls is final and binding,” he said.
School Principal Mohamed Shaheed Mohamed Hussein said that with the increasing number of students, the new board has to plan new strategies to provide quality education to students.
“We have seen 90 percent successful results in EdExcel and IGCSE examinations conducted by Cambridge University,” said Hussein, adding that most former students are presently pursuing higher studies in universities and colleges in the US, the UK, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
