Teachers of the International Indian School, Riyadh (IISR) have rejected outright the school managing committee's (MC) pay hike proposal and, as a result, the stalemate to resolve the issue continued on Tuesday. The teachers rejected A. Imthias, the MC Chairman's, offer of an eight to 12 percent increase in the basic monthly salary that was fixed at the time of a teacher's first appointment. The eight to 12 percent pay rise was announced in three different categories based on the number of years of a teacher's service. The MC proposal also included other benefits, such as, payment of exit and reentry fees, encashment of accumulated casual leave and special allowance for those working on Thursdays. The teachers have demanded that the pay scale be raised based on the current basic salary. After rejecting the MC proposal, the teachers continued their strike for the second day on Tuesday. However, the teachers were persuaded to go back to classes after the intervention of the Ministry of Education. Moidh Al-Qahtani, Supervisor, Foreign Education Department, Ministry of Education, visited the school while teachers were boycotting classes on Tuesday. The official managed to persuade the teachers to end their strike and they went back to their classes at the closing hour of the school. Al-Qahtani held a long meeting with the teachers and listened to their grievances including a long-pending demand for a pay revision. However, he urged the teachers to form an ad hoc committee and present their demands and other grievances so that they could be negotiated and settled in the best possible manner. The committee that the teachers set up comprises Abdul Rasheed, Abraham Thomas, Roy Mathew, Ibrahim Kutty (boys' section) and Girija Shankar, Lissamma Mathew and Rehana Jaleel from the girls' section of the school. Al-Qahtani assured the teachers that he would do his best to convey their grievances to the Higher Board including the demand of a pay hike on the current basic salary. The teachers said they would adopt a wait and see attitude until their demands are fully met. However, Imthias said the teachers have promised before the ministry official that they would not resort to measures such as boycotting classes that, he said, are against the Kingdom's laws. Expressing concerns, the IISR Parents Forum (PF) has questioned the MC's ability to run the school. It said due to the management's failure, the school's performance in all areas of its functioning has been deteriorating. “The unrest among teachers, who were forced to go on strike to demand a pay revision, is just one example,” said the PF in a statement. The forum said it fails to understand the IISR audit report posted on its website. It said the IISR reported a large surplus of SR1.06 million in 2007 and the amount was almost doubled to SR2.34 million in 2008. “It is expected that the school surplus will rise to over SR3 million this year,” the PF said. “The teachers are the backbone of the future of every student and they should be motivated through increments and other benefits,” it said, adding that the IISR is a no-loss, no-profit community school, which can use its funds to motivate teachers.
