Sacked PISJ-ES principal steps down

Foreign missions have no role in the running of international schools in the Kingdom, claims a document from the Education Ministry presented to the media on Thursday by Sehar Kamran, the sacked principal of the Pakistan International School Jeddah-English Section (PISJ-ES).
Arab News could not independently verify the authenticity of the document presented to the media by Kamran.
Abdul Majeed Al-Ghamdi, spokesman of the Jeddah Education Department, asked Arab News to fax him the document. He said he would respond on Sunday.
The letter, purportedly written by Abdullah Ahmed Al-Thagafi, director general of the Ministry of Education in Jeddah, says: “All foreign community run schools fall under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom’s Ministry of Education, which is the appropriate authority to handle the affairs of schools but not diplomats.”
The controversy surrounding Kamran, who was fired by Pakistan Ambassador Muhammed Naeem Khan on Nov. 18 for alleged corruption and nepotism, took a dramatic turn when she announced that she had resigned from the school.
However, Pakistan Consul General Aftab Ahmed Khokher told Arab News that there was no question of her resigning because she had already been fired.
“She could not have resigned because she was sacked from her post by the ambassador. She quit as a result of the termination letter,” he said.
“Kamran was appointed by the (previous) Pakistan ambassador in 2009 in the absence of a management committee and has now been sacked by the same authority. The ambassador is the patron of all community run schools across the Kingdom,” said Khokher.
The PISJ-ES does not have a management committee yet. However, the embassy has said it would soon nominate Pakistani nationals for these positions. The Saudi Ministry of Education supervises the election of management committees in coordination with embassies.