Hundreds of students and alumni in Saudi Arabia have taken to the Internet to appeal to External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to ensure that the boys section of the prestigious International Indian School in Jeddah (IISJ) is not shut down permanently.
It is the only school offering the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum.
“It is a very difficult phase for all IISJ student and staff. We need quick action and help regarding this…Please Help us,” said an online petition addressed to Ms. Swaraj, signed by more than 3,300 petitioners on Sunday, while more than 1,800 tweets marked #SushmajiPleaseHelp were sent directly to the Minister.
The school for boys was vacated hurriedly over the weekend after Saudi authorities slapped an eviction notice with a deadline of October 9. The move came despite weeks of representations by the Indian Embassy to the Saudi Royalty and Ministry of Education. A court ruled in favour of the owner of the property that has housed the boys school with about 4,200 students since 1994, about 4 km from the main school building which is used for about 6,000 girl students.
The case has been in court since 2005, and although the IISJ won the original petition in 2015, it was struck down in 2016, with the court ordering the school to back-pay a rent of more than 32 million Riyals (U.S. $8.5 million or INR 63 crore). Despite IISJ making the payment, officials have disregarded the appeal that the boys school be allowed to function until March, when the school term ends and alternative premises can be found. The Indian embassy gave petitions to the Saudi Royal Court in August 2018 to reconsider the case, and in September 2018 to stay the verdict.