With a mission to provide affordable world-class education that challenges the intelligence, integrity, and spirit of its students, a new school named “Dunes International School” (DIS Alkhobar) has been established in the eastern Saudi city of Alkhobar.
The school, being positioned as a modern Indian school with international facilities and resources for academic and extra curricular activities, has already started admissions offering the HYPERLINK “http://www.cbsei.com/” CBSE international curriculum.
This was stated by Nadeem Tarin, managing director of the Dunes’ board of directors, who was speaking on the occasion of India’s Republic Day. A prominent Indian expatriate Tarin, who has promoted several schools globally, said the mission of the Dunes is “to enhance the skills of students to the highest level of competence and thereby make the world an emancipated and enlightened place.”
Ibrahim H. Al-Quayid, chairman of Dunes board of directors, also seized the opportunity to congratulate Saudi and Indian nationals on the occasion of India’s Republic Day. Al-Quayid. A prominent Saudi academician, Al-Quayid said the main objective of the school is to create an educational facility in Saudi Arabia that provides the student a comprehensive system of education to help him or her develop a well-rounded personality and grow into a smart, confident young person.
Plans are afoot to establish several such schools in the Kingdom, said Tarin when asked about the future expansion plans of the educational network of Dunes. Spelling out the salient features of the new school, he said the school is enrolling students of all nationalities as per the rules of the Ministry of Education governing foreign schools in Saudi Arabia. Tarin said the process of enrolment of students from kindergarten classes to VII standard have started with a plan to add one higher class every year.
He said an integrated teaching and learning process forms the core of the curriculum of DIS, where students will also be taught invaluable skills of collaborative learning and independent research. Tarin said the DIS faculty is composed of highly experienced Indian, European and American teachers. The school will mainly provide education as per Indian syllabus, but will create separate facilities for students of other nationalities within the framework of the rules and regulations of the Saudi Ministry of Education.
He said the Dunes school in Alkhobar could boast to have a large spacious building with modern classrooms, auditorium and other necessary facilities. The classrooms of the DIS, he said, are equipped with multimedia and graphic teaching tools. A professional school management system of world standard is already in place to evaluate the ranking of the DIS, which has several facilities like a well stocked library, ample parking area and a cafeteria for students, teachers, parents and visitors.
The school, which has a built-up area of 18,000 square meters, also boasts of huge sports facilities with full-fledged track and field for soccer, cricket and many other outdoor games. An air-conditioned squash court, which is rarely found in the school campuses in the region and a swimming pool, are prominent features of the DIS today, said Tarin. This is in addition to indoor sports facilities that include badminton, basketball, volleyball and kho-kho, said the DIS managing director.
He said the school has a full-fledged gymnasium, table tennis facilities, billiards and carom sets besides a whole range of games and activities like lectures, leisure programs and picnics, which will be organized from time to time. Asked about the promoters of the DIS, Tarin said the school would be run by a board of directors chaired by Al-Quayid, who is a member of the National Society for Human Rights and an elected member of the Riyadh Municipality.
A highly experienced educationist D. Manon, who had the distinction to serve as principal of Army School, Jammu, and Singhania School Churu in Rajasthan (India), has been appointed as DIS principal. Manon, who holds a Master’s degree and a bachelor of education (B.Ed), has two decades of experience in the field of education under his belt. Tarin himself is the managing director, while Sultan Salman Al-Terais Sadey, a prominent businessman, is the DIS’ director.
A well-known academician S.U. Rahman is the honorary director and another well-known management expert Amjad Khan, who holds a management degree from India’s Aligarh Muslim University, is the DIS director for finance and administration. The school, Tarin said, has a four-member advisory board composed of top-notch academic experts and men of letters. Former Principal of the Doon School Shomie Das, who had the distinction of being tutor of Prince Charles, is a member on the DIS Advisory Board.
Nigat Shamsi, who worked as reader and director of two premier educational institutions in Dehradun, in north India, is another member on the DIS advisory board with Linda Amin, principal of International Programs School in Alkhobar and Anna Marry Amudi, who holds a doctorate in education from America’s Minnesota University. The DIS campus in Alkhobar is located on Old Airport Road that connects driving school and Dhahran Mall, close to Doha Bridge.
© Arab News
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