Pak school board polls

Arif Aziz group has won five seats out of the seven-member Pakistan school board of management elections held yesterday on the school premises in Isa Town.

Chaudhry Rafaqat Group secured two seats. The names of the seven-member winning board are the following: Qari Sami Ur Rehman (315 votes), Arif Aziz (313), Shah Jahan (311), Chaudhry Rafaqat Hussain (310), Ilyas Khan (308), Qaiser Mahmood (307), Ejaz Yousaf (306).

The rest of the candidates: Abdul Qayyoom (305), Muhammad Naseem (305), Abu Hasan (303), Ghulam Jilani (302), Fareed Khan (298), Maqbool Ahmed (297) and Kashif Ullah (297).

There were two opposite groups informally in the field – Chaudhry Rafaqat Group by Bahrain Parents Society (BPS) and Arif Aziz Group by Pakistan Parents Society (PPS).

Congratulating the winners, Education Ministry observer Sara Aldurazi said that the main concern of the Ministry was education that should continue.
The candidates on BPS panel were Chaudhry Rafaqat Hussain, Ejaz Yousaf, Ghulam Jilani, Mohammed Naseem, Fareed Khan, Maqbool Ahmed and Kashif Ullah.

The PPS candidates were Qari Sami Ur Rehman, Ari Aziz, Shah Jahan, Abdul Hasan, Ilyas Khan, Qaiser Mehmood and Abdul Qayyum.

The polling started at 9am and continued till 6pm without any break. Overall turnout was very good. Voting held through secret ballot and a special representative of the Ministry of Education supervised the elections.

In certain cases, where the eligible members were unable to cast their votes due to valid reasons, their wives, sons or daughters above the age of 18 cast their votes after showing the member’s original CPR, as the law permitted.

Chairman Election Commission Saqib said they had made foolproof arrangements for the whole process and there was no chance of any rigging in the elections.

He said they had a meeting with both the rival groups a day before polling and both the parties had agreed on certain points to be implemented during the polling and the election commission had fully acted upon on the agreed policy. “Election process is fair and transparent and it is the will of the majority parents, who they wanted to vote.”

Rafaqat Hussain, candidate for the chairmanship by Bahrain Parents Society (BPS), said that the election commission was fair and impartial and they were fully satisfied by the performance of the commission. “Success and failure is in the hands of Allah Almighty.”

According to him, his group was fully committed to development of the school.

Expressing satisfaction, Arif Aziz, candidate for chairmanship by Pakistan Parents Society (PPS), opined that the polling process was fair. “Pakistan School is the only community school supported by Tamkeen.”

He said that he thought to serve Pakistan School as worship and not the politics.

Shah Jahan, one of the candidates, commented that the checking system adopted by the election commission was appreciable and there was no chance of any wrong voting and that the whole election process was fair and transparent.

It was the fourth election in the history of Pakistan School. The Board of Management elected for three years term acts as the governing body of the community school. The first three elections were held in 2006, 2009 and 2012 consecutively.

Shaikh Ahmed Khan was the first elected Chairman of the board while Arif Aziz and Ahmed Asif have also served as the Chairman. Muhammad Ilyas Khan is the current Chairman.

Any graduate parent of a child studying in Pakistan School with at least two years stay in Bahrain was eligible to contest the elections while the parents constituted the electorate.