Education Ministry asked to step in to end 'mismanagement' at Indian School Bahrain
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
A group of parents under the umbrella United Parents Panel (UPP) has come down heavily on the incumbent management board of The Indian School Bahrain, accusing it of “absolute mismanagement”. Speaking at a press conference, they sought intervention from the part of the Ministry of Education to end “mismanagement of school funds, misuse of power and lack of transparency”.
Former school and UPP Chairman Abraham John said the underlying principle behind the founding of the school was to provide standard education to the children of expatriates from moderate backgrounds. “This basic principle is being violated by the existing management. A large number of students are denied online classes for non-payment of fees.
They are children of parents, who have either lost their jobs or are not receiving salaries owing to the pandemic situation. “The audit report says the school is on the brink of financial collapse, claiming a fund deficit of BD300,000.
Last year, the Ministry of Education offered the school BD50,000. Along with this, the management is putting heavy pressure on parents to squeeze fees out of them. Half of the staff have not been paid for over seven months now and the school has defaulted on loan payments.
I really don’t know where this deficit is coming from!” “The management claims that BD136,000 have been written off in fee waiver. Why doesn’t it bring out the list of beneficiaries? We are not against waiving fees for children from humble backgrounds, but we seek accountability.” He said the school management should be ashamed “for collecting infrastructure fees when classes are being held online for the past one-and-a-half years”. Abraham said that the majority of the management board have become ineligible for the position as their children are no more students of the school.
“The Chairman clinging on to the position is a basic violation of the school constitution. He should immediately step down allowing the Vice-Chairman to take his position.” The press conference precedes the schools’ Annual General Meeting, which will be held next week. Among present were Biju George, Hareesh Nair, Haris Payangadi, Jyothish Panikkar, Deepak Menon, John Bosco, F M Faisal, Anil U K, Abdulrahman and Sreekanth.
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