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Community schools should be improved

DUBAI — Focusing on improving the community schools affairs in the UAE, Chaudhry Abdul Hamid, the new Consul-General of Pakistan, has said that the functioning of these schools need to be streamlined.

In an interview with Khaleej Times, Ch. Hamid said: "Though I am yet to meet with school principals and Board of Governors to discuss various issues, these things will definitely be sorted out."

He said that several issues including whether the schools were running in losses, and whether expenses needed to be curtailed, have to be cleared. "I would like to appoint more technical people in the board of governors as well as auditors to overlook construction affairs," he added.

Talking about increase in salaries of teachers working in Pakistani schools, Ch. Hamid said that soon, all of them will be judged according to their experiences and capabilities and proper action will be taken.

"We are working towards all these issues," he said.

He said there was need to form sub-committees in the BoG to monitor the needs of the community including the financial and construction aspects to make the functioning systematic.

Still new to the affairs of the Pakistani community in Dubai and the Northern Emirates, Ch. Hamid, who took over the Dubai post a month ago, said: "I am still engaged in relief work following the Pakistan quake since I took over, and it has not been a smooth take-over. I am yet to start visits to community centres and schools. I still need to gauge what the community thinks and then proceed with my plans."

Starting his Foreign Service career in 1983, Ch. Hamid was the Director General at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before being appointed as Consul General in Dubai. He has already served in Abu Dhabi between 1989 and 1992, besides serving in Qatar and Jordan.

Stating that he does not believe in groupism, he said: "Parochialism does not mean anything while geographical boundaries too are meaningless."

Ch. Hamid says that he takes the community as a whole and believes in working for a common cause. "Rather than satisfying the interests of individuals and smaller groups, I believe in the community as a whole," he said.

Promising that the welfare work for the community would be planned, he said: "If other communities are well organised and planned, then we too can do it."