“The school is trying to teach pupils the concept of social awareness by involving them in community service with the hope that this will be the start for many good deeds for the rest of their lives,” said Sameera Al-Harakan, administrator at Al-Ferdous Schools.

Pupils at the school were involved with providing relief to people affected by the floods last year in Jeddah.

The latest project is titled “School Bag.” “One of the teachers involved in community service classes picks up on a project or a charity issue that needs urgent help and then we involve the children,” said Al-Harakan.

“One of the projects that was recently picked up on was the fact that some pupils who go to public schools cannot afford things like pens, notebooks, school bags and items like that. The school held a fund raising event, purchased a lot of these items and asked students to visit schools to distribute to students as gifts on behalf of the school,” she added.

Pupils have also participated in a project to help the families of prisoners. “We went and visited the families of prisoners and provided them with clothing and food; we also consoled them,” said Mai Al-Sheebani, a pupil at Al-Ferdous Schools.

“It felt very relieving to help other people; I learned about my responsibilities toward my society and my city through this,” she added.

Schoolteacher Nouf Al-Oraifi said pupils also visited an old people’s home, which they helped to renovate.

“We took pupils to an old people’s home for women and they noticed that a staircase was damaged. They all threw in some money and hired a handyman to make a new one. They were concerned the old women may fall or get injured,” she said.

“The pupils searched for the handyman themselves and collected money for the project which I believe taught them how to be reliable and take charge,” she added.

The school also hosted an open day in which orphans visited the school to interact with pupils. “We planned for the event three days ahead, arranging activities we would do,” said Al-Oraifi.

“This was planned on the open day which pupils normally prefer to spend playing and hanging out with other pupils, but our pupils decided to invite orphans,” she added.

The object of the project was to teach pupils how to feel for people who are in need and lend them a hand. “I felt that this project has changed me in a good way. Now I always think about those people who need me and try to come up with creative ways to help them,” said Omniya Dahlawi, a high school pupil.

“In Ramadan, we ran a project in which we distributed food baskets for people who cannot afford food to break their fasts. We thought of this project knowing how some of us can actually have more than one meal a day compared to others who can’t,” she added.