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The school
is owned by the British International Schools Society (BISS), which is
in effect an educational charity and in legal terms is an NGO (non-governmental
organization) registered under Egyptian law. Egyptian law provides for
NGOs to be registered and supervised by the Ministry of Social Affairs,
and gives the Ministry wide powers to inspect and (when deemed necessary)
also to direct NGOs. In practice, the relationship between the BISS and
the Ministry is cooperative, and the Ministry has so far seen no reasons
to exercise any of its powers save those of inspection.
The BISS is
ultimately responsible to its members. Any full-fee-paying parent of a
child attending the school may become a member of the BISS simply by filling
in a form and paying a small annual fee (currently LE 100). Egyptian law
specifies that members of an NGO such as the BISS may not vote at meetings
until six months after their membership has been registered. There are
two varieties of meeting: an Annual General Meeting (AGM) held each year
to receive reports on the previous year's activities and to approve the
budget for the coming year, and Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs),
which are held as and when needed for purposes such as amending the statutes
of the BISS. Currently, not all parents are members of the BISS; the board
and the school would both welcome wider membership and participation.
The BISS,
and so indirectly the school itself, is governed by a Board of nine directors,
elected by the members of the BISS from among the members of the BISS at
AGMs every six years. Every two years, three Board members are chosen by
lot to resign; they may stand for re-election. Any seat on the Board which
falls vacant for other reasons--for example if a Board member ceases to
have children at the school and so ceases to be a member of the BISS--is
filled immediately on the basis of votes at the previous election.
The functioning
of the BISS is governed by four varieties of instrument: Egyptian law,
the statutes adopted by the BISS at past EGMs, “Regulations” adopted at
AGMs, and “Board Policies” adopted by the Board itself. At present, “Board
policies” are generally used in place of the more formal “regulations.” Sometimes some of these instruments overlap: the
Board policy on conflicts
of interest, for example, complies with the general requirements of the
applicable Egyptian law, but articulates these requirements in slightly
more detail.
Members of the
Board give their services freely to the BISS and the school, and may receive
no remuneration of any kind. Anyone who has been a member of the BISS for
more than six months may stand for election, though the statutes of the
BISS at present exclude members who have no “relevant experience” or do
not have a university degree, and provide that in exceptional circumstances
the board may declare a candidate not a “fit and proper person” to stand. Further, Egyptian law requires that a candidate
for election register their candidacy two months in advance of the election
in order, and that the total percentage of non-Egyptian nationals elected
may not exceed the total percentage of non-Egyptian nationals among the
members of an NGO. The ministry is allowed by law to declare any candidate
ineligible to stand, but has never exercised this power.
Although the
Board of the BISS is legally responsible for all aspects of the School’s
operation, in practice there is a division of responsibilities between
the Board and the School’s “Senior Management Team” (SMT), which consists
of the Principal, the Head of Seniors, and the Head of Juniors. The SMT
is responsible for running the School, while the Board is responsible for
ensuring that the school carries out its educational mission as effectively
as possible, and for protecting the school’s overall financial and legal
interests. Important policy questions are handled jointly between the SMT
and the Board, as are some operational questions, although for legal reasons
only members of the Board actually vote when a vote is necessary.
Members of the
Board are chosen as trustees more than as delegated representatives: their
job is to use their best judgment to act in the best interests of the school,
the children and their parents, not to be the voice of individual members
of the BISS. Members of the Board will however address the concerns of
individual members of the BISS or of any other interested party, subject
to the School’s complaints procedure, which requires that attempts be made
to resolve problems relating to individual children or teachers at the
appropriate level within the School, or if necessary with the SMT, and
then only as a last resort at the level of the Board.
This document
has been prepared as a concise explanation of the main effects of various
legal and regulatory instruments. It is not intended to be relied on as
a definitive statement of a complex legal position, and should not be used
as such. Rather, appropriate legal and other professional advice should
always be taken. Neither the BISS nor any of its officers or employees
can accept any responsibility for any consequences, direct or indirect,
of any actions taken or not taken as a result of reliance on this document. |
