IN order to provide better education to Indian and foreign students in Saudi Arabia, the Riyadh-based Delhi Public School (DPS) has announced an ambitious plan to build its own school building with world-class facilities. “Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of the new building of Delhi Public School (DPS, Riyadh) here recently,” said Mairaj M. Khan, DPS principal, while speaking on the occasion of India’s independence day.
Khan recalled his deep association with DPS chain of schools, which has grown as an institution in India as well as abroad. He lauded the efforts of Salman Khurshid, DPS chairman, DPS Managing Committee Chairman Nadeem Tarin and Darrusalam International School Chairman Dr. Ibrahim Al-Qauid for bringing one of the best academic institution of India to the Saudi soil.
Khan pledged to offer best quality education to the students of Riyadh-based DPS. He said that the school currently has a cumulative enrolment of some 1,400 students plus 100 teachers. Khan, who has 20 years of experience as principal of Indian boarding schools, said “The traditional pursuit of excellence in the field of education by the Delhi Public School Society of Delhi was ingrained with the Darussalam International School to germinate an institution that provides the best of Indian education in Saudi Arabia.”
“The patrons of the Darussalam International Delhi Public School, Riyadh, Nadeem Tarin, Mukhtarul Amin and Dr. Ibrahim Al- Qauid have seen to it that the school be provided with the best of facilities to help its students march toward the goals of character development and academic excellence,” said Khan. “The school has also achieved a lot in other fields as well,” said Khan, adding that the overall development of the student is not relegated behind academic excellence.
“Instead it is kept at par with academics and with the student’s participation in various debating and cultural events in the Kingdom and abroad. We have established our desired aim of imparting holistic education as an ideal to reckon with,” he said. Over the years the school has had growth as its credo, be it the mental and physical development of its students or the geographical expansion of the school from the present premise into the new state-of-the-art facility.
“The inception of the school in the year 2004 was the brainchild of Tarin, who is a businessman, a social worker and a community leader,” said a report on the school. “And now it has grown into a big institution and is further growing. The new sprawling campus for DPS with a sumptuous school building will have a separate section for IGCSE with high-tech classrooms, laboratories and activity rooms besides an auditorium and an administrative block,” the report added.
The DPS Riyadh is affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the IGCSE boards simultaneously; giving students a choice of education. The DPS Society has more than 140 schools in India and about 20 schools overseas to address the needs of the expatriate Indian population.
“We are one such entity striving for excellence in Riyadh and we have full conviction that we will achieve the goal in very near future,” said the principal.
“Our endeavor is to develop a multifaceted personality among our pupils, which will eventually enable him or her to grow as a responsible citizen of the future,” said Khan, adding that several languages including French, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Malayalam, and Kannada are taught in the school.
At DPS Riyadh, attention of the teachers is not limited to the classrooms. Among the facilities offered by the school for games, special coaching in football, cricket, badminton, table tennis and chess is provided. These facilities have yielded great results and many of the DPS students have won commendation for their excellent performances in different sports activities, which speak volumes about our methodology that enables students to outshine in every field of learning.
