Save Indian Schools in Oman

We request the immediate intervention by the Minister of HRD, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India and the Chairman, CBSE to Save Indian Schools in Oman.

The educational environment in Indian Schools in Oman were polluted and disturbed by the vested actions of the Board of Directors (BoD) and the School Management Committees (SMC).

Autocratic, undemocratic, partisan and non-transparent move by the Indian school Board of Directors (BoD) have put the fate of around 37,000 Indian students in uncertainty by messing up the smooth functioning of the 19 Indian schools in Oman.

Following a number of recent happenings, which were widely published as lead stories in English dailies in Oman, worried parents are up in arms but their now in a stranded situation as the Indian Embassy has washed off their hands in helping them.

During the last Open House, as usual, citing technical reasons, the Indian Ambassador has washed off his hands in resolving the school issues and in meantime the BoD is threatening the parents by issuing undemocratic and authoritative notices.

The BoD of Indian schools in the Sultanate is an apex body of the 19 Indian schools in the Sultanate of Oman.

Out of the 15-member BoD, five are elected, two are embassy nominees, one embassy representative and others are nominees. Out of the other nominees two are representatives of promoter schools, who run the actual show.

We have found that there is a lot of mismanagement of funds and they function with zero transparency. None of the dealings in the schools are transparent and they are least bothered in taking parents into confidence who are the real share holders of Indian Schools.

All the 19 schools are facing several kinds of problems from the autocratic move by the BoD. When in some schools principals and teachers are harassed, in some other schools parents and students are under duress.

Losing faith in school management committees (SMC) and BoDs, when the parents started to intervene in the school issues, the BoD also issued an authoritative letter barring parents’ intervention. The Indians who always uphold the democratic values high will find it difficult to sign the same. When some of the parents denied signing, their children were harassed by the teachers. Fearing further repercussions, majority of the parents had to sign and budge in front of the autocratic BoD. (A copy of the letter is attached with this memorandum).

Recently, principals of Indian School Nizwa (ISN) and Indian School Muscat (ISM) were shown doors by the BoD. Around 9,000 students study at ISM and 1,100 study at ISN.

If the Nizwa school principal was sent back disgracefully a few weeks ago, the ISM principal was forced to resign on June 11 by the BoD.

On June 11, the ISM principal Achuthan Madhav was forced to submit his resignation within hours after the BoD charged that he has “manipulated” the election of prefects and he had printed Swami Vivekananda's picture on the school calendar, which the BoD claims had hurt the secular credentials of the school.

Achuthan Madhav, who is a recipient of Indian President’s Award for best teacher, did his initial studies in Bangalore, after which he got his masters degree from Delhi University. He began his teaching career at Modern School, New Delhi, and, subsequently, became a Fulbright scholar. He had been the principals of Towers High in Decalp County, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Cambridge School, Delhi. He is the founder principal of the Army Public School in Noida.

Achuthan has now has decided to fight against the injustice.

According to Achuthan, he had given a written apology to the BoD, which thrown in dustbin. One of the BoD members also threatened the principal that the award he got from the President of India will be taken back if he doesn’t budge in front of them.

What we parents came to know is that, the BoD member who threatened the principal is the son of an Indian Central Minister from Kerala.

Following the removal of the ISM principal, the ISM school management committee chairman was also “voted out” by the BoD, because he refused to divert some funds set aside for the development of the ISM.

Meanwhile, 11 school management committee (SMC) members of ISM also have resigned to protest against the BoD’s move. According to the SMC members, they resigned because they didn’t get a reply from the BoD for a letter sent stating their stand.

In between, from both sides (SMC and BoD) official papers were leaked to media to seal their vested interests.

Leaking of official papers and devious games played by SMC and BoD shows that their interests are not in the smooth functioning of schools but in something else.

Meanwhile, when we parents gathered at the Indian Embassy Open House seeking the Indian Ambassador’s intervention in the ISM issues we felt disappointed.

 Even after repeated requests, we didn’t get any positive response from the Ambassador. Even though, he assured that he will convey the matter to the BoD, he stated that he will not be able to assure any guarantee in resolving issue because the embassy doesn’t have any power to intervene in the school issues. We requested him to withdraw the three embassy representatives from the BoD but he declined.

Last year, citing many irrational reasons, the BoD increased the fee exponentially. We the parents protested but they didn’t revisit their decision. Now, the parents are suffering a lot to make both ends meet. When the fee was increased, we were assured quality education and better facilities. But, the fact is that day by day the quality of education is going down.

Let it be issues related to academics or school management, everything is going down. ………………..

We request the immediate intervention by the Minister of HRD, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Government of India and the Chairman, CBSE to Save Indian Schools in Oman.

The educational environment in Indian Schools in Oman were polluted and disturbed by the vested actions of the Board of Directors (BoD) and the School Management Committees (SMC).

Autocratic, undemocratic, partisan and non-transparent move by the Indian school Board of Directors (BoD) have put the fate of around 37,000 Indian students in uncertainty by messing up the smooth functioning of the 19 Indian schools in Oman.

Following a number of recent happenings, which were widely published as lead stories in English dailies in Oman, worried parents are up in arms but their now in a stranded situation as the Indian Embassy has washed off their hands in helping them.

During the last Open House, as usual, citing technical reasons, the Indian Ambassador has washed off his hands in resolving the school issues and in meantime the BoD is threatening the parents by issuing undemocratic and authoritative notices.

The BoD of Indian schools in the Sultanate is an apex body of the 19 Indian schools in the Sultanate of Oman.

Out of the 15-member BoD, five are elected, two are embassy nominees, one embassy representative and others are nominees. Out of the other nominees two are representatives of promoter schools, who run the actual show.

We have found that there is a lot of mismanagement of funds and they function with zero transparency. None of the dealings in the schools are transparent and they are least bothered in taking parents into confidence who are the real share holders of Indian Schools.

All the 19 schools are facing several kinds of problems from the autocratic move by the BoD. When in some schools principals and teachers are harassed, in some other schools parents and students are under duress.

Losing faith in school management committees (SMC) and BoDs, when the parents started to intervene in the school issues, the BoD also issued an authoritative letter barring parents’ intervention. The Indians who always uphold the democratic values high will find it difficult to sign the same. When some of the parents denied signing, their children were harassed by the teachers. Fearing further repercussions, majority of the parents had to sign and budge in front of the autocratic BoD. (A copy of the letter is attached with this memorandum).

Recently, principals of Indian School Nizwa (ISN) and Indian School Muscat (ISM) were shown doors by the BoD. Around 9,000 students study at ISM and 1,100 study at ISN.

If the Nizwa school principal was sent back disgracefully a few weeks ago, the ISM principal was forced to resign on June 11 by the BoD.

On June 11, the ISM principal Achuthan Madhav was forced to submit his resignation within hours after the BoD charged that he has “manipulated” the election of prefects and he had printed Swami Vivekananda's picture on the school calendar, which the BoD claims had hurt the secular credentials of the school.

Achuthan Madhav, who is a recipient of Indian President’s Award for best teacher, did his initial studies in Bangalore, after which he got his masters degree from Delhi University. He began his teaching career at Modern School, New Delhi, and, subsequently, became a Fulbright scholar. He had been the principals of Towers High in Decalp County, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Cambridge School, Delhi. He is the founder principal of the Army Public School in Noida.

Achuthan has now has decided to fight against the injustice.

According to Achuthan, he had given a written apology to the BoD, which thrown in dustbin. One of the BoD members also threatened the principal that the award he got from the President of India will be taken back if he doesn’t budge in front of them.

What we parents came to know is that, the BoD member who threatened the principal is the son of an Indian Central Minister from Kerala.

Following the removal of the ISM principal, the ISM school management committee chairman was also “voted out” by the BoD, because he refused to divert some funds set aside for the development of the ISM.

Meanwhile, 11 school management committee (SMC) members of ISM also have resigned to protest against the BoD’s move. According to the SMC members, they resigned because they didn’t get a reply from the BoD for a letter sent stating their stand.

In between, from both sides (SMC and BoD) official papers were leaked to media to seal their vested interests.

Leaking of official papers and devious games played by SMC and BoD shows that their interests are not in the smooth functioning of schools but in something else.

Meanwhile, when we parents gathered at the Indian Embassy Open House seeking the Indian Ambassador’s intervention in the ISM issues we felt disappointed.

 Even after repeated requests, we didn’t get any positive response from the Ambassador. Even though, he assured that he will convey the matter to the BoD, he stated that he will not be able to assure any guarantee in resolving issue because the embassy doesn’t have any power to intervene in the school issues. We requested him to withdraw the three embassy representatives from the BoD but he declined.

Last year, citing many irrational reasons, the BoD increased the fee exponentially. We the parents protested but they didn’t revisit their decision. Now, the parents are suffering a lot to make both ends meet. When the fee was increased, we were assured quality education and better facilities. But, the fact is that day by day the quality of education is going down.

Let it be issues related to academics or school management, everything is going down. ………………..