At Least SR300,000 was generated through the recently concluded fete at the International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ). The amount, according to Abkar Batcha, chairman of the IISJ managing committee, is meant to meet the tuition fees of needy IISJ students. However, the collection of funds through such fetes in the past has generated a lot of controversy, with some parents even complaining of misappropriation. “Favoritism among committee members is an issue. During the last fete, one deserving family could not get funds due to a particular member's opposition,” said M.R. Siddiqui, an IISJ parent and a former Financial Aid Committee (FAC) member of the school, adding that earlier, school parents had complained of possible misappropriations of funds. However, because they had no evidence, their complaints remained mere allegations. “But some of these carried weight,” he said. “For example,” Siddiqui said, “children of the school's teaching staff are entitled to a 50 percent discount in their tuition fees. Some of them don't have both the parents. Barring a few exceptional cases, it would be wrong to consider them for further discounts before other families who have no such concessions,” he said. Confirming to Saudi Gazette that many deserving families had not received assistance from the funds of previous fetes, Mohammed Abdul Basith, former IISJ managing committee member and finance coordinator, said: “There were many needy parents who had complained to us about not getting any or enough financial assistance. But not all of them could be catered for as we had limited funds.” Another debatable point is who makes the crucial decision of who is or who is not a deserving student. Sultan and Junaid (full names withheld) are brothers who studied by means of financial assistance from the IISJ and graduated a few years ago. Unlike them, their sister was not an above-average student and had to drop out of school due to financial difficulties, as she was unable to get any help in paying her tuition fees. The children's father, a cardiac patient, is medically unfit for work, and their mother, manages to earn a small amount by teaching Quran to the neighbors' children. Batcha said needy and deserving students like these will benefit from the generated fete funds. “Sometimes a child may suddenly be orphaned, or the father loses his job or the parents get separated. The funds from the fete will go to such orphans and deserving students only. Applications for financial help by parents are made through specific forms,” said Batcha, adding that applications requesting funds have already started coming in. He said the account is transparent and that it will be sent to the Indian ambassador in Riyadh. “We have a team which decides who is a deserving student. We consider various checkpoints and parameters, such as, the class teacher's observation and that of the section headmaster, the father's employment history, a sponsor letter attested by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), salary certificate and the child's academic level,” said Batcha. Next, he said, a team of three members of the school managing committee and two members of the fete committee, who act as external examiners, decide on the matter, after which it is approved by all the members of the managing committee. The committee decides how much of the child's fee should be discounted. “It can be 30, 50 or even 100 percent of the amount, depending on the merit of the application. This is a long procedure that can go on for months,” he said. Batcha said by the year end, like all other financial transactions of the school, funds from the fete will also be examined by external auditors. He said about 50 to 60 students annually are expected to benefit from the fete funds. Siddiqui said there is need for greater transparency and certain changes in the present setup. “Currently, the academic level of the child is considered as a criterion for the funds. This should not be done as normally, children coming from destitute homes who actually deserve help are not able to academically perform up to their fullest,” he said, adding that there should be an “external committee with more participation of neutral members to counter-check the accounts, which should be accountable to the consulate. This is important as people should not be given a chance to allege the misuse of funds, as this is hard-earned money and a collective effort of the community members.” He said parents who do not come forward to apply for the funds due to social stigma should be identified. Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba, speaking earlier during the fete to Saudi Gazette, said he was not aware of the ‘technical details' of the distribution of the collected funds from the fete. “Supervising that is not part of our work, but I am told the poor and the most deserving students will benefit from it, and I am sure they will as we have a dynamic managing committee,” he said. Sale of entry coupons, raffle tickets, stalls and sponsors of the event contributed to the fete fund. Of the 100 stalls, 97 were sold out for SR3000 each for premium stalls and SR2000 each for others. Batcha said the school's staff had also paid a discounted amount to buy stalls. Asked why it took nine years to hold an event for a noble cause, Batcha said, “Whether the previous committees had community support, the resources and enough time for such programs, is a thing of the past, and I cannot comment on that,” he said.
