JEDDAH: A top Indian official here has defended the recent hike in school fees for Indian schoolchildren across the Kingdom, saying this was only done because many teachers are resigning from International Indian Schools over poor salaries; and because of the ever-increasing demand for places. Dr. M. S. Karimuddin, a former member and chairman of the managing committee at the International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) and now a member of the Higher Board, told Saudi Gazette in an interview that the board had no choice but to raise fees. Karimuddin said the decision was taken after a process of three months by a committee of six principals. There were four from big schools, namely Indian International School Jeddah (IISJ), Indian International School Dammam (IISD), Indian International School Riyadh (IISR) and Indian International School Jubail (IIS). Other smaller schools were also represented including from Buraida and Yanbu. “This committee met seven times in different cities from Jan.1 to the first week of March. They recommended the fee hike, which was discussed at the Higher Board.” The board includes chairmen of the international Indian schools, the education consul at the Indian embassy and a representative from the Central Education Department of the Kingdom. He said there were also three meetings held in Riyadh, which he attended, lasting five to six hours. “After extensive discussions, the decision was taken to hike the fees taking into consideration all the problems of the 10 international Indian schools in the Kingdom. There were a total of 21 members involved in this decision and you shall agree that all these 21 persons are not fools or enemies of the community,” said Karimuddin. He said that since he became a member of the Higher Board about 10 months ago, 31 teachers resigned in Jeddah. “I signed the checks for their end-of-service benefits. These teachers were offered posts at private schools in Jeddah, at double the salary given by the IISJ. The only reason our teachers are resigning is because of the low salaries they have been paid for such a long time. Nobody knows this fact better than me,” he said. He said extensive recruitment was undertaken but many teachers refused to come because of the poor salaries offered. “We conducted interviews in Bangalore and New Delhi in July. Out of the 3,000 applications received from India, after we advertised in the Times of India, we shortlisted 600 applicants who were asked to take the written test in five centers, namely Delhi, Bombay, Madras, Cochin and Hyderabad. Our school heads who were on vacation at that time in India, acted as invigilators. Many candidates did not take the test after learning about the salaries offered at our schools,” he explained. “Only 108 candidates qualified after taking the written test. These were interviewed in Delhi and Bangalore. I was on the selection panel. The majority of the teachers selected did not want the jobs because of the poor salary.” He said they had to promise these teachers they would soon have their salaries increased, on par with those offered in India. “If this is not done, then the teachers will leave for other schools. Very good teachers have joined recently and they have to be paid as promised,” he said. He said the school in Jeddah has been facing problems of ever-increasing applications for places. The school rented two buildings to increase the capacity to 12,500 this year, which meant1,700 extra places were available. “But by Feb. 16, the last day for new admissions, the principal informed me that 4,374 new applications were received. So this year we are unable to give seats to 2,674 students. This number will increase to 4,000 next year. As a responsible school we cannot deny admission to such a large number of Indian children,” said Karimuddin. “We have to go for a bigger school than this. These are the factors that have forced the Higher Board to hike the school fees,” he said. — Saudi Gazette REASONS CITED n Low salaries of teachers n More space required to accommodate increasing number of students n Recruitment of new teachers __
