[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Connecting parents; IISJ makes history " size="medium" ids="97776,97777,97778"] By Hassan Cheruppa Saudi Gazette The first ever interactive session of the administrators and parents of International Indian School — Jeddah (IISJ) was a remarkable event, adding a new chapter into the annals of the school's history. "Today, it is a very, very important and historic occasion as it is the first gathering of its kind in IISJ in the 32 years of my experience in this institution. We and you — the parents — have all gathered here to discuss something for which you and we are in Saudi Arabia – the future of our children," Syed Masood Ahmed, principal of IISJ, said in his welcome speech. Around 700 parents attended the session called "Together We Can – Parents and MC Meet," held at the Boys' Section auditorium. Managing Committee (MC) Chairman Mohamed Iqbal and six members of the MC set the tone by rightly addressing the concerns of parents, welcoming their suggestions and promising to take quick actions on the problems raised by them. Many parents congratulated the MC for taking this initiative. They expressed happiness and satisfaction over the way their questions were answered by the chairman, MC members, principal, and the concerned headmasters and headmistresses. Parents have made numerous suggestions to achieve a further qualitative leap in their ward's overall performance, in addition to drawing attention to a number of loopholes to be tightened so as to enable IISJ further scale the ladder of academic excellence. The 3-hour event had an introductory session, followed by an interactive session. In the introductory session, the MC members — Asif Rameez Daudi, Mohan Balan, Noorul Ameen, Shamsuddeen Kokakodan, Majid Saleem Siddiqi, and Tahir Ali — made powerful presentations unveiling their visions and plans of action. The session concluded with the speech of Chairman Iqbal, who briefed the major actions that have been taken by MC after assuming charge in June. "Today is the day of beginning; a beginning of togetherness, and we will have sessions with parents on a regular basis. We hardly got 45 working days as a three-month holiday came within a few weeks after the MC took charge on June 5," he said, while emphasizing that the MC is determined to address all the potential concerns raised by parents. "We are not running away from problems, but are well organized to tackle them as one single team. We will perform and deliver," the charismatic chairman said while welcoming all types of criticism. The interactive session saw numerous issues raised by parents that covered a wide range of areas such as lack of proper interaction between teachers and students, defects in valuation of exam papers, improper behavior of teachers to students, and concentration of some teachers on private tuition after the school hours. They also provided suggestions for improving further the standard of education. Questions about introducing self-defense classes, addressing misalignment of bus routes, appointing maids in buses of KG students, updating the old website, and problems facing students from Makkah were also raised. Iqbal received a round of applause when he announced that the MC's top priority in its future action plan is realizing a new campus of its own with all facilities. "We are working on it, started searching plots and will soon do feasibility studies." He also unveiled plans for starting training programs for students. "We have plans to set up an IIT, NEET entrance coaching center as well as to carry out benchmark academic comparison among different CBSE schools in Jeddah, KSA, GCC and India. Teachers will be provided with training by experts from India and outside the Kingdom. Addressing the long-time demand of parents from Makkah to open a community school there, the chairman said that the file in this regard is now under the consideration of the governorate and an approval for this is likely to be made soon. The consul general has also confirmed this, he said. Some parents demanded at least five percent reservation in the IISJ admission for students from Makkah. Replying to queries, the parents were told that the MC is actively working for route alignment of buses. A study on revised transportation plan is under way, and it will be finalized after having feedback from parents. The parents were also urged to raise any complaints against teachers to the concerned HMs or the principal. They assured that the new website would be ready by next month The chairman briefed the major measures being taken by his team to upgrade the facilities and services at IISJ within a short span. "Soon after assuming office, we started connecting; and this was with installing suggestion boxes at the entrances of the campuses and launching an email ID to entertain suggestions and complaints. After giving safety top priority, we revised safety plan and took a number of safety measures, besides installing a centralized gas supply system for the home science lab in the girls' section. The other measures included standardizing teachers' recruitment and resource planning, and introducing Focus Groups to take care of weaker students. Iqbal said that a reception area for parents would be arranged in both sections of boys and girls. The reception counter's work is progressing now in the boys' section. It will have a receptionist, coffee vending machine, and water dispenser; and the receptionist will take the visitor to the respective staff member. The chairman also unveiled plans to introduce effective ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software for the school management and GPS tracker for all school buses. The interactive session was followed on the next day by an exclusive session for teachers from all grades from KG to senior secondary. Around 500 teachers attended the workshop that focused mainly on teaching techniques and classroom management.
