Amjad Parkar

Saudi Gazette

 

JEDDAH – An ongoing internal dispute at Jeddah Prep and Grammar School that threatened to cripple the day-to-day running of the school was at least partially resolved at the last minute on Tuesday.



Saudi Gazette had learned that teachers’ iqamas (residence permits), including those of new recruits, could not be renewed or issued after labor authorities blocked the school from carrying out any critical paperwork. But this has now been lifted.



It is understood that after talks between the school and labor authorities, the local labor office sent a representative to the school to address parents and teachers and tell them that outstanding iqama and visa paperwork would be completed and that this suspension would be lifted.



Two members of the school’s interim board told Saudi Gazette that a lawyer appointed by previous principal Arshad I. Ashraf, who maintains is still in charge of the school, was responsible for the problems.



The lawyer, Omar Al-Aidrous, has disputed this and claimed the interim board, headed by Director of Foreign Education for the Western Region Khalid Al-Harthy, was illegally appointed and in any case unqualified to serve as board members.



However, one of the board members, also a parent, said the Education Ministry legally appointed the board. The member said: “There was no board. The headmaster had left suddenly. He only tendered his resignation a few days after leaving. So we didn’t know the future of the school.” The member said the interim board was put in place until a permanent set of governors could be elected.



In response, Al-Aidrous said: “[The board] is not legal because all its members belong to different nationalities. As you know, this is an English-Dutch school with members who don’t carry either of these two nationalities.”



The lawyer showed Saudi Gazette what he claimed was a set of Ministry of Education directives that stated at least one board member had to be from the same community that any particular international school served.



He also said Ashraf had gone on annual vacation due to personal circumstances in the UK, where he is from, and had informed the school’s human resources department of this.



He provided a letter dated Sept. 4 that he signed and which appeared to support his claim.



However, Saudi Gazette also saw a letter provided by the board dated June 22 that appeared to be sent from Ashraf’s personal email account tendering his resignation.



In the email, he states: “I will not be returning to Jeddah, at all, now, or in the future.”



Ashraf also responded to correspondence from Saudi Gazette through this particular email address.



In addition, the board also provided documents that listed the end of service benefits provided to Ashraf.



The member claimed the school had insufficient funds when the board took over and that the rent and exam fees had not been paid.



“When we hired an international auditing firm, we got a preliminary report saying that there’s SR9 million that is unaccounted for.



“The firm is still digging into the details but all we can say is that this much is missing during the period of the previous headmaster.”



The board is still waiting for a final report from the auditing firm, while Al-Aidrous said he could not comment on accounting matters.



Ashraf, when contacted about the board’s claims, also refused to comment. The board member said the school could not function because of the constant “blocking” from the labor office, which was allegedly stopping certain employment procedures from going through, such as iqama renewals or issuance.



Legal cases brought against the school, most of them allegedly from Al-Aidrous, was said to be responsible for the block.



Al-Aidrous denied filing any personal complaints against the school. He said: “The school’s work stopped and got disrupted because the board members don’t have a clue about the Kingdom’s regulations and laws. One of the members is a mechanic and another is a salesman.”



He again pointed to the Ministry of Education directives sent to Saudi Gazette that stated board members should be able to effectively participate in school management activities.



Only the principal of the school can remove Al-Aidrous but the current person doing that job, Marina Hitchen, has not been issued an iqama yet, said the board member.



When asked exactly how the legal representative was stopping Jeddah Prep from getting its paperwork done, the member replied that he and his family was achieving this by suing the school.



The member said one such lawsuit against the school involved five Saudi teachers who were reportedly unfairly dismissed, of whom one was allegedly the lawyer’s daughter.



However, the member claimed that the teachers were simply asked to show Hitchen their contracts.



“Unfortunately, they misunderstood that or something else happened and they said they were kicked out of the school.”



Al-Aidrous partly agreed that the teachers were not fired, but claimed they were suspended and banned from entering the school.



He said: “It’s not true that the female teachers don’t speak English. “Some of the teachers were working managerial positions while others were teaching Arabic to non-native speakers at elementary grades.



“They don’t teach any English curricula and all have college degrees.” He did not confirm whether his daughter was one of the teachers, but said she had been working there for two years and “prevented from doing her job”.



She and the teachers were reinstated in their jobs, according to a labor disputes commission decision, a copy of which was seen by Saudi Gazette. Al-Aidrous said: “My daughter and her colleagues are Saudi citizens and have the right to work in their own country, the Kingdom.”



Another lawsuit involved the lawyer’s son who was allegedly suing the school for non-payment of salaries, she said.



Al-Aidrous confirmed his son had taken legal action, which had stopped the school from being able to process its paperwork.



He said: “The school failed to respond to the complaint and as a result its file (with the labor office) was suspended as a legal procedure.”



The board member said the situation was “frustrating” because the school was not able to get any vital paperwork done. “People are frustrated, teachers are furious and we can’t do anything.



“We need to get more teachers in; we need to run our government relations office, but it’s not happening.



“Everywhere in the world I’m sure people sue other people but that doesn’t mean the whole school stops.”



When asked what would happen to the school if it could not get any iqama or visa paperwork done, the board member simply responded that there was no answer to that question, but the board was working hard to resolve the issues.



A fellow board member and parent said Jeddah Prep has been facing the added problem of being classified incorrectly under the Nitaqat system that aims to improve Saudization.



The previous administration was responsible for this, claimed the member. The board member claimed that the school was being treated as a private enterprise rather than a not-for-profit community school and was currently in the red zone, indicating it was far from meeting Saudization targets.



“[Normally] it’s just a small percentage [of Saudis that need to be hired], in Arabic language, or in Islamic studies, or in administration. “But this is a British-Dutch school, and most of the teachers must be very British.



“Of course, if we have Saudis that are very qualified, of course we would consider them, but we are not forced to do this.”



In response, Al-Aidrous said: “This school receives students from all nationalities, not only British and Dutch. It’s classified as such in the Ministry of Labor’s files and so the Nitaqat program is applicable to this school.



“Mr. Arshad appointed 22 Saudi staff and helped Saudize jobs and protect the school against any legal accountability. He selected a highly-qualified staff to teach Arabic for non-native speakers.



“I had the honor in helping appoint some Saudi qualified teachers. “The school was in the red zone and was moved up to the green zone after it appointed Saudi teachers.



“Besides, the school was able to easily have its paperwork processed by government agencies after it met the Saudization requirement. Please note that international schools are exempt from Saudization requirements if they are teaching students of the same nationality of the school.”



The board wanted to tell parents in September about the problems the school was facing, but postponed this after consultation with the Ministry of Education until a full investigation was carried out, said the first board member.



The school has only been communicating with parents now, the member said. The member also alleged that a school building built during Ashraf’s tenure was subsequently found to be unsafe for student use when the interim board hired a consultancy engineering firm to conduct tests on it.



Saudi Gazette has seen the firm’s final report, which appears to support the board’s claims.



Al-Aidrous said he reported the condition of the building to the authorities but was not responsible for it. Ashraf, again, did not comment on the claims.



When asked if he felt that his actions were harming students at Jeddah Prep, Al-Aidrous responded: “No doubt the students have the right to education because their parents paid the tuition fees.



“The temporary board members should understand this fact. “Those very members didn’t even try to solve the matter amicably. “Rather, they were impolite and stubborn with everyone.”



He said all he wanted was to act in the best interests in the school and ensure a new board was appointed that included parents of British and Dutch students who met the Education Ministry’s criteria.



Teachers at Jeddah Prep have reacted with concern to the school’s ongoing problems.



Douglas Vale, music teacher, said: “The teachers are afraid and angry. We haven’t been kept in the information loop and so speculation is rife. We always try our best not to show our insecurities and fears to the students, but there’s definitely tension in the air which communicates itself to the children and creates restlessness in the classrooms.”



Trina Epsom, English teacher and vertical mentoring coordinator, said: “Many of the teachers have young families, whose children are educated at JPGS and whose total income is from teaching here.



“What will they be able to do, if they have to leave? Dr. Hitchen is an experienced headmistress who has been working hard to keep her team motivated and focused on developing the whole school. I think this situation will be resolved because this is a community school.



“I believe that the parents are equal members in our community and they would not allow the school to be closed due to problems that have nothing to do with the true purpose of the school.”



A first-year pupil’s mother, who did not want to be identified, said: “This, of course, is an impossible situation that should be resolved immediately, otherwise the school cannot function.



“Without sufficient teachers, I don’t see how the school can function, and this makes me very sad for the students and their teachers.



“I think being transparent to parents, the authorities and the community - particularly at a time of crisis - is always preferable to staying quiet and letting rumors stew.



“But, having said that, I haven’t seen much transparency as of yet and rumors are flying all around.



“Parents would like to know what the most likely scenarios are so they can make a plan. Now, all we hear is that swimming lessons have been canceled until further notice as there are no teachers available or the Year 1 school play is canceled.”