Hassan Cheruppa

Saudi Gazette

Parents of the International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ) will soon be able to address their concerns or airing their grievances by approaching the help desk throughout the school hours. In an interview with Saudi Gazette, Haroon Rasheed, chairman of the IISJ managing committee, said that procedures are almost complete to set up a help desk, which will start functioning most probably in the first week of March.



At present, parents can meet the principal and teachers only for a limited period of time or with prior appointment. “This did not allow most parents an opportunity to address their concerns with regard to their wards, and being a parent I have experienced the pain of fellow parents in this regard,” he said.



Rasheed said that the help desk was one of the most sought-after demands by the parents of more than 12,000 students of the school. “The help desk will be operational at a room near the fee counter. Parents will have access to the desk at any time of the school working hours. They can make any queries, lodge their complaints, submit applications and fulfill other requirements,” he said, adding that the managing committee will meet every week to review and address all the concerns of parents and take action on the complaints registered at the desk.



Rasheed said the process of appointing one employee at the help desk on ad hoc basis is under way after inviting applications. The chairman said that the school would introduce online fee payment system from April this year. “Parents can make all types of fee payments via online. The current system of direct payment at the fee counter would also continue,” he said.



The chairman also unveiled plans to introduce an ambitious program of modernizing teaching methodology based on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software modules in the near future. “We are racing against time to implement the program from kindergarten to class 12, of which the first phase will be implemented within a few months,” he said.



Referring to the newly elected managing committee’s efforts to establish a new campus, Rasheed said that the committee is going ahead with the plan by making concerted efforts to lease a huge plot of land to build a full-fledged campus. “There has been tremendous response to the advertisements that we have recently published in major local Arabic and English dailies. Several landlords approached us and sent us a number of online applications. The committee will meet on Monday to go through them and take an appropriate decision,” he said added: “Our ambition is to establish the campus by next year so as to accommodate all the applicants.” 



Last September, Rasheed had told Saudi Gazette about the committee’s plans to accommodate more students by finding additional school buildings or establishing a new campus on leased land. “This is one of the first priorities of the committee ever since it took charge on 20 June, 2013,” he pointed out. As a temporary alternative to meet the growing demand from the Indian community for affordable quality education, the committee introduced shift system for its kindergarten section last year.



Rasheed urged the Indian community to understand the limitations of the school authorities in accommodating all students until the new campus becomes a reality. “This has forced us to hold a draw Saturday to select some 750 students for LKG section from over 2,000 applicants,” he added.  



Haroon Rasheed from Bihar who scored the highest number of votes in June 2013 election was chosen as the chairman of the committee, which replaced a nominated committee that assumed power in December 2011.