Al Ain: More than 1,400 pupils enrolled at the Pakistan Islamia Higher Secondary School have been suffering due to shortage of teachers and other facilities as the administration struggles to meet requirements under the new local regulations.
The school is among the six academic institutions run by the Pakistani embassy in different parts of the UAE.
They are rectifying their status from diplomatic mission schools to private schools under the new rules.
"We have renewed the licences for all the schools as per the new requirements and the remaining formalities particularly for the Al Ain school will shortly be met," said Khurshid Ahmad Junejo, Pakistani Ambassador in Abu Dhabi.
He said the school has improved over the past year. The school's principal was, however, not allowed to talk to Gulf News about the problems it is facing.
The school has been limping for several years now despite repeated promises and announcements of successive Pakistani ambassadors.
A large number of Pakistan children are either studying in private schools affiliated to the British Education System or Indian education board.
Another private school has been following the Pakistani Federal Board syllabus but its main focus is on the British system. The city has many Pakistani businessmen but none of them has come forward to set up more Pakistani syllabus schools to fulfil the needs of the community.
Complying with the new UAE rules, the embassy has already chosen a local sponsor, an Emirati of Pakistani origin with a 51 per cent share, but a problem arose while selecting Pakistani sponsors for the remaining 49 per cent share.
The local authorities are not issuing visas for the school to recruit new teachers until the investors' issue is solved.
The embassy decided to go for four Pakistani sponsors instead of one. The move fuelled political jockeying among a number of Pakistanis, sources said.
Some of them have also been using their political and bureaucratic influences back in Islamabad.
When the final list was presented, the UAE authorities objected to two names as they were on employment visas and as per the law they cannot become investors or sponsors.
When the matter lingered on, one of the two persons on the list eventually withdrew his name. However, the other has been trying to change the status of his visa, thus causing a delay which is affecting the education of pupils.
Imran Akhtar, an embassy official in charge of Al Ain school, denied this saying something else caused the delay.
"That matter has also been sought out and all the requirements of the local authorities will be fulfilled within two weeks," he said.
Irate parents
Community members, however, accused the embassy of ruining the future of their children just for the sake of maintaining its control on the school, which is affiliated with the Pakistan's Federal Board of Education.
Pupils in senior classes are particularly affected by the shortage of teachers.
"They [pupils] are going to appear in board examinations and the school has not yet completed the course," said the father of a 10th-class student.
The school, he said, has no physics and maths teacher among others and children are taking private tuitions for exams, he said.
