Dunes International School or DIS is geared primarily toward the large Indian expatriate community in the Eastern Province, which has had little choice in terms of quality education.
The International Indian School (IISD), a popular choice for Indian students, is bursting at the seams with an enrollment of 17,000 students in its girls and boys sections. Community elders repeatedly appealed to the educators among them to invest in a quality school in either Dammam or Alkhobar. Their prayers have finally been answered.
Dunes International was launched at a well-attended event in the presence of Magsaysay Award winner and outspoken social activist Kiran Bedi who flew in from New Delhi for the ceremonies. Also present was well-known Riyadh-based Saudi academic and educator Ibrahim H. Al-Quayid and a number of prominent expatriates representing Eastern Province businesses, universities and schools.
Dunes International was the idea of Indian businessman and educator Nadeem Tarin and other like-minded academics and professionals. “I was repeatedly asked by our community to start a quality school in the Eastern Province for a number of years now,” said Tarin. “The demand became even fiercer after we launched the prestigious Delhi Public School in Riyadh in 2004. The success of that school prompted us to launch a school as good as DPS here in the Eastern Province.”
Dunes International is located near the Doha Bridge on Old Airport Road, which connects Dallah Driving School and Dhahran Mall.
“There is a vast Indian community residing in the Eastern Province and there was a dire need for a good school that taught Indian curriculum,” said Tarin. “The launch of DIS will lead to a healthy competition among other educational institutions in the region and it will provide parents with a good choice.”
It is naturally expected to lead to an overall improvement, he said. “As a businessman I know competition is always good.”
Tarin said he and the school’s management team have been very careful in faculty recruiting.
“We had 200 applications for 40 teaching slots. Of them, we selected only 17, and brought the rest from India. We have been extremely picky, and the teachers that we have on board are highly experienced and have worked in some of the best educational institutions of India and Saudi Arabia.”
The school buildings — there are separate sections for boys and girls — are spread over an area of 18,000 square meters. All the classrooms are smart classrooms equipped with computers, smart boards and connections to high-speed Internet service. From classrooms, teachers can access a large depository of teaching tools from a centralized server.
With 30 years of experience in the Kingdom, Tarin is well aware of the needs of the Indian and expatriate community.
“I arrived in the Kingdom in 1980, and established my first school in 1993 in Aligarh. It is called Ayesha Tarin Modern Public School. It is running successfully. We then launched another school also in India in a city called Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, and in 2004 we started Delhi Public School in Riyadh, which is now rated among the best schools for expatriates in the Kingdom.”
Tarin said the parent company of the school is Baitus Salah Co. “Dunes is our brand, and we have a plan to open Dunes schools in all major cities of the Kingdom.”
One of the key reasons why Indians prefer Indian International School is the affordable fee structure. It will be interesting to see how Dunes School will cope with that challenge. “Sure, our fee structure will be high compared to the Indian school, but it is more inexpensive than the British School, the American School or the Manarat School,” Tarin said.
“I would only tell my fellow expatriates that creating bank balances and raising concrete structures is not the best investment. It is the investment in the education of our children that is the best thing to do,” he said.
Veteran educator D. Manon, formerly the principal of Army School in Jammu, has been appointed principal of the new school. Tarin is the managing director, Sultan Salman Al-Terais Sadey will serve as the school’s director, S.U. Rahman is honorary director and Amjad Khan finance director.
Dunes International expects an enrollment of 600 students the first year, which starts on March 27. The process of enrolling students from kindergarten to Grade 7 is in full swing. Every year one higher class will be added. The school is enrolling students of all nationalities as per the rules of the Ministry of Education governing foreign schools in the Kingdom.
