November 23, 2001 9 am Indian Ambassador Reshuffle Indian School Board of Directors keralamonitor.com The Board of Directors of Indian Schools in Oman has been restructured by the Indian Ambassador K.M. Meena, the school patron who has announced the final list of members. The Patron has accepted the resignation submitted by Kiran Asher, former Chairman who served the school board for several years and replaced him with R.N.Parikh as the new Chairman. The new chairman is a senior official of Bahwan Automotive Center representing one of the leading business groups in Oman. The outgoing Chairman is said to be a British citizen. The new board members include A.Raize, son of Kerala politician E.Ahmed, Abraham Mathew, President of Indian School Darsait, Ameer Ahmed (Managing Director of the Teegan Group of Companies), George Mathew, partner, George Mathew and Company, an auditing company, Dr.Sathish Nambiar, Chairman of the Indian Social Club, Dr. Sanjay Dalal, Ajith Kumar, General Manager of a Al Bahas Trading Company, Mrs. Kamal Ajay Khimji, Jasbir Sing, S.N.Thakkar, and Mr.P.Y.Venkataraman, Deputy General Manager, Oman Arab Bank. The patron appears to have given a clear thought about the demographic structure of Indian expatriates in Oman. The new board has got six representatives from Kerala. Even though Malayalis constitute the largest number of Indian expatriates in Oman, their representation was limited in Indian schools. For sometimes, even the Kerala Syllabus school, Indian School Darsait, had a Gujarathi representative on the school committee! Unlike the past when the school board has been filled with Gujarathi busienssmen, the new board gives proportional representation to the Malayali community. However, six Malayali members who represent diverse business lobbies and interests. They have to prove that their service helps the Indian community interest, rather than the business interest of certain lobbies. The next board meeting on November 27, 2001 will be crucial in many respects. Keep Watching this space... posted Nov 21 Presidents resign from Indian Schools in Oman keralamonitor.com Presidents of two leading Indian schools in Oman have resigned from their post. The resignation has been accepted by the Patron of Indian Schools, the Indian Ambassador K.M.Meena. The latest to resign is Yousuf Nalwala, a leading Indian businessman, who has been the president of the Management Committee of Indian School Al Ghubra, a branch of Indian School Muscat managed by a private promoter. Ashraf, President, Management Committee, Indian School Muscat, the leading community school in Oman, has resigned from the post following negative reports about the functioning of the school, especially the financial aspects. These resignations prove that despite tremendous pressure from various corners, the Indian Ambassador K.M Meena has been able to make changes in the composition of Indian school management committees and board of Directors which comprised of leading businessmen. Earlier, Kiran Asher and other leading members of the board of directors tendered their resignation to the patron. Now about 9 members have resigned from the board and various school committees. Other old faces are likely to exit from the school activities. The patron's agenda is to introduce transparency in the functioning of Indian schools by improving the auditing standards and make education affordable to common man by introducing a common fees structure. November 16, 2001 Indian School Muscat may run Indian School Seeb  keralamonitor.com The proposed new Indian school in the Seeb-al Hail area is likely to remain a full fledged community school rather than a privately sponsored one as publicised by the promoters. It is learned that the higher authorities have reversed the decision of former Indian Ambassador Satnam Sing and decided that the proposed Indian school in Seeb will function purely as a community school. The higher authorities are of the view that the Indian community interest will be best served by a community school, which serves the ordinary Indian community members rather than a private school, which serves the promoters business interests. The proposed school will accommodate about 2,000 students in the first year of operation. Even though the Ministry of Education in Oman has granted the final sanction for the school recently, the Indian Ambassador seems to have taken a different view in favour of a community school. Satnam Sing It is reliably learned that the patron of Indian schools has been unhappy about the manner in which a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between George Mathew, former president of Indian school Darsait and well known educational expert and the former Indian Ambassador. It is learned that the former Indian Ambassador, Satnam Sing had taken the final decision to allot the school to Mr.George Mathew in a hurry. There were other bidders like the Mahajan Community and another Malayali promoter, Mr. Sugathan Gopalan, the founder member of Indian school Darsait. Despite the fact that the Board of Directors recommended that there is no need for a fifth branch of the Indian school Muscat, the former Indian Ambassador is alleged to have went out of his way to approve the school MoU! According to informed sources, all the Indian schools in Oman are functioning under one license issued by the Ministry of Education initially given to the Indian School Muscat. All other Indian schools in Oman including the two so called private schools (Wadi Kabir and Al Ghubra) are working as branches of Indian school Muscat. The ISM is the centralised authority of all the Indian schools in Oman which handles even the processing of visa, labour card and other The Ministry of Education, Oman has issued only one license for Indian schools in Oman. The two private schools have been claiming a separate elite identity from other Indian schools. The privately run schools have been charging the maximum fees. The teachers visa and labour cards are issued in the name of Indian school Muscat. The unexpected decision has sent shock waves as the two private schools - Indian School Wadi Kabir and Indian School Al Ghubra - which functions as private schools are in fact branches of Indian School Muscat. These two schools are labeled as private schools by the promoters on the basis of special Memorandum of Understandings signed between the Indian Embassy and the private promoters. The salient features of these MoUs are not known to the Indian community. One of the MoUs was said to be signed by a former Indian Ambassador on the last day of his transfer! According to this MoU the promoter need not show audited financial statements of the school to the Indian Ambassador. The decision of the new Patron to ask Indian School Muscat to undertake the responsibility of running the Indian school Seeb is a fitting reply to those who have been trying to convert other Indian schools in Oman into profit oriented private schools. The business lobby that has been controlling the Indian schools have converted the erstwhile Board of Governors into board of Directors, with clear intentions. Despite the negative publicity and media coverage received by ISM, the mother of all community schools, things are not moving as desired by vested interests. However, lobbying and counter lobbying is going in Muscat and New Delhi to reverse the Ambassador's decision. The fate of two board members representing the proposed Seeb school in the Board of Directors is not known. George Mathew, the proposed promoter is partner of one of the school auditors, George Mathew & Company. Yeshpal Mehta, another auditor had been a board member sacked recently from the board of directors.