The International Indian School-Jeddah (Girls Section) in Aziziya district has received a notice from the Ministry of Education to vacate the building.

The ministry’s decision has the potential to jeopardize the fate of nearly 5,500 students.

Masood Ahmed, principal of the school, told Arab News on Thursday that the Indian Embassy has taken up the issue with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ahmed explained that school officials thought the land was granted as a gift offered to the Indian community. Later, however, matters were clarified and the school began paying rent.

Around 1982, Saudi authorities provided a vacant plot where the school building was constructed with funds from the community.

“Around 2000 or 2001, the Saudi authorities charged us rent, and we started paying up,” he said, adding, “A 10-year lease agreement was signed between the school and the Ministry of Finance.”

Rent for the open space was about SR230,000 per year. It was later increased to nearly SR450,000 per annum.

A joint delegation of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs visited the school in 2011 and informed the management that ownership of the land was being transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education.

The school administration was told to sign a new contract with the Ministry of Education. However, when the school requested the Ministry of Education for a long-term contract, “there was no response and instead we got this notice,” Ahmed said.

Mohammad Raghib Qureshi, head of chancery at the Indian Consulate in Jeddah, said: “High-level talks are going on and the problem will be solved soon.”