The new girls’ school building is situated at RANCO 5 building in Al Farazdaq Street, Malaz. Beginning Saturday, female students will be attending classes at the newly renovated school.
From its inception in 1982, the girls’ school was located in the Al-Rawdah district, a few kilometers from the city center.
The school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, India and is licensed under the Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia.
Opening the new premises of the school, Manohar Ram, charge d’ affaires of the Indian Embassy, described the building as “grand and good” and enough to cater to the academic interests of the students learning in this institution.
“Students will be proud to study in a massive complex that would make them comfortable and self-confident in their progress toward fulfilling their ambitions in life,” Ram said, adding that the school environment plays an important role in character building.
Mansard Jamal Siddiqui, IISR principal, said that the building was a section of the Princess Nourah University that moved to its new campus at the Airport Road recently.
Explaining the features of the new building, the principal pointed out that there are 152 classrooms to accommodate 4,900 students. “There are 20 blocks and a total of 100 toilets for the comfort and convenience of the children,” he said.
The school campus has a built up area of 8,886 sq. meters, which includes an auditorium that can accommodate 500 people. It also has a fully equipped library where children could read the daily newspapers, magazines and reference books.
Referring to the safety and security measures adopted by the school administration, Siddiqui said the management has employed 10 more Saudi security staff to help the school provide maximum security for the girls. “We have made arrangements in such a way that the vehicles could drop students inside the school premises and exit through a backdoor and similar arrangement has been made for the pick up too,” the principal said, pointing out that the school timings have also been changed from 7:30 to 8:00 a.m. in the morning considering the traffic in the Malaz area. The school will close at 1:30 p.m. as in the past.
He said the board of management of the school decided to shift the premises from the previous place since the rent was hiked from SR2.2 million to SR5 million — 100 percent increase from the previous rental. Siddiqui thanked the members of the present and past management committees who contributed a great deal in enabling a smooth shift from the previous location.
Aslam Meer Mohiddin, chairman of the board of management of the school said that the school was on a 15-year lease, which ended in 2009. “We were forced to shift the school premises since the landlord increased the annual rent by 100 percent and the cost of which the school would have to transfer to the parents, who would not be able to afford this hike in their school fees,” he said.
Mohiddin thanked the chairmen of the previous management committees for their presence and continued cooperation toward the progress of the school.
The function ended with the proposal of vote of thanks by the acting principal of the girls’ school, Asma Shah.