School dispute endangers future of 1,200 students

FRUSTRATING: A spokesman for the Department of Education in Jeddah said the school was closed based on a ministerial decision.

JEDDAH: Some 100 parents of students studying at an international school in Jeddah woke up Wednesday to news that the school has been closed, the documents of nearly 1,200 students have been confiscated and 250 teachers are thrown out of jobs.
All this due to a dispute between the school owners.
Parents said the suspended school principal sent all students’ records to the Ministry of Education, in preparation for the closure of the school. They asked that the records be returned to the school, which should resume activity.
The parents expressed concern after being guided by the Department of Private and Foreign Education to another school connected to their school’s owners.
Most worrisome is the timing, as they have no possibility of enrolling their children in other schools because schools have stopped accepting new students.
The dispute between the owners began when one denied the other partnership in the school. A suit was filed with the Bureau of Grievances, which ruled that there is a partnership between the two parties.
Several suits related to the dispute were decided Wednesday, after it became clear to the judge that the dispute was in fact between the school and the owner of the building.
The court gave the owner the choice of either receiving rent for the property or getting into further disputes and lawsuits. He chose the first option.
The spokesman of the Department of Education in Jeddah, Abdulmajeed Al-Ghamdi, said the school was closed based on a ministerial decision due to the disputes.
He said the students will be sent to other international schools that have the capacity to absorb them, according to their parents’ preference, and the students will have their records handed over to them by the private education office.