RIYADH: International Indian School, Riyadh (IISR) Wednesday announced the formation of a long-awaited new managing committee (MC). M.J. Siddiqui, IISR Principal, in a briefly worded press statement said Mohamed Aslam Meer Mohiddin has been appointed as chairman of the new MC. Other members are Shaikh Aqeel Shaikh Mahboob Sahab and Mohammad Firoz Rahman (academic sub-committee), Mohammad Aslam Shakoor and Shahnawaz Mani (admin sub-committee), Dr. Braj Raj Singh and Nusrat Ahmad (finance sub-committee). “This is to inform you that Ministry of Education has nominated and approved the new school Managing Committee with seven members,” Siddiqui said in a statement without giving details such as the tenure and data of appointment of the body. IISR was functioning without a proper managing body for the past more than a year. The previous nominated MC, formed in December 2007, was dissolved in July 2010. During this period the school has faced protests from parents for increased tuition fee and falling academic standard. The General Secretariat for the Council of Foreign Schools in the Ministry of Education has stipulated a 26-article charter under which international community schools operate in Saudi Arabia. Article 12 of the Charter (Foreign Schools Regulations) issued by the Council of Ministers, Decision No. (26) Dated 24/02/1418 AH stipulates that the parents of the students of the school shall be represented in the MC and the ministry shall have the right to attend its meetings. According to the regulations every foreign school shall have a managing committee (MC), either elected from among the parents or nominated by the respective foreign missions with a mandate to make decisions on school's financial, administrative and academic affairs. Parents have been waiting for the formation of new MC, which can take decisions, largely in the interests of the students' academic standard and school's finance and administration. The new MC would have a difficult task ahead, particularly after Siddiqui's recent announcement that the IISR was running in deficit of SR3 million. The Principal cited the deficit as the main reason for increasing the tuition fee that invited anger from the parents, mostly those belonging to the low
