JEDDAH — Bowing to mounting outrage of parents, the managing committee of International Indian School, Jeddah (IISJ) announced at a press conference Monday evening it would cut recently announced fee hikes by 20 percent. Mohammed Abdul Raziq, chairman of the committee, said the school sought the advice of the Indian Consulate and agreed to a monthly increase of tuition fees by SR40 and bus fees by SR20, instead of SR50 and SR25 respectively. A few days ago, Abdul Raziq told Saudi Gazette that the school would address concerns raised by the community with regard to the fee hike in the wake of strong protests from the community. He said the decision to increase the salary of school staff by 15-20 percent would create an additional financial burden of SR9 million. “The fee hike is supposed to generate less than SR6 million, but the newly announced decrease will bring down this revenue by around SR1.4 million,” he said. Referring to the repeated demand from the community for more transparency in financial matters, the chairman promised that the issue would be raised at the next meeting of the Higher Board of International Indian Schools. “If the Board okays it, we will make public the school's financial accounts, which are being audited on an annual basis.” Abdul Raziq said the committee has almost dropped its search for suitable plots of land in order to build a new campus to accommodate all applicants for admission. He said: “We have been informed from the higher authorities that buying plots of land is not practical, and hence, our priority will be to find additional school buildings or constructing buildings on leased land. “We are awaiting permission from the Ministry of Education for a new campus in Al-Rehab district, where there are around 100 rooms that can accommodate more than 2,500 students with separate facilities for boys and girls.” Abdul Raziq also explained the measures taken by the new committee to boost the transportation sector. “Due to our intense pressure, the private transporter has replaced old buses with new ones. Thirty new buses have been purchased by the transport contractor and will be on the routes shortly.” IISJ Principal Syed Masood Ahmed said the new steps aimed to further improve the academic performance of the school. He said: “We are going to introduce 70 smart classes shortly. Urgent maintenance and repair work at the boys and girls campuses have already been carried out and new IT facilities will be introduced soon.” He added that sports and training facilities have also been enhanced with advanced systems. The press conference was also attended by former chairman Haroon Rasheed and committee members Ahmed Najeeb Hashmi, Mohammed Mahboob Ali, Mohammed Hyder Ali Qureshi and Mohammed lIyas Momin.
