Pakistani ambassador Admiral (retd.) Shahid Karimullah is astonished at the warning by staff of Pakistan International School (PISJ Rehab) that they would resign if the new management committee takes charge as per the requirement of the directorate of Foreign Education. “I am surprised that staff did not protest at the time when I nominated the committee members in May 2007 and sent the recommendations in June 2007,” Karimallah told Saudi Gazette, which reported the teachers' threat on Tuesday. “They also kept quiet when I got the notification in December 2007. Now after long time suddenly they created chaos,” said Karimallah He said that PISJ-Rehab School staff had met with the director of Foreign Education in the school premises at the end of 2006 and had presented their apprehensions about the school management committee. “When I received the minutes of that particular meeting, I myself met with Director General of Foreign Education at the Ministry of Education Abdul Hadi Muhammed Al-Shailakhi and discussed with him the apprehensions of the staff. But he stressed that the formation of the management committee of parents is a must as it is the rule. All schools are running in the same way.” mentioned Karimullah. He said that he had particularly talked about both Pakistan International Schools of Jeddah (Rehab) and Riyadh (Sulaimaniyah), that these schools were doing well and did not need a management committee, but the director general of Education refused and stood by the law. The management committee approved by the Directorate last December was due to take charge Monday but that was postponed in view of the teachers' protest petition. “The Directorate has postponed the decision till further notice, and they will decide after resolving the issue,” school principal Syed Esar Shah told Saudi Gazette, Monday. The teachers say the selection of the management committee is a conspiracy against the school, which according to them, has been performing very well without the supervision of any committee. The vice chairman of the committee, Dr. Humayun Jaffery, sees an agenda and a foreign hand in the teachers' protest. “I think some people are trying to get political benefit by making an issue out of nothing,” he said. __
