| Indian School Salalah | |
|---|---|
| Established | 10th July 1981 |
| President | Mr. V. S. Sunil |
| Principal | Mr. Trevor Ronald Brown |
| Location | Salalah, Dhofar, Oman |
| Colors | Navy blue & White |
| Nickname | ISS |
| Website | http://www.indianschoolsalalah.com |
The Indian School Salalah is an Indian-run, self financing, co-educational institution, primarily established to meet the academic needs of children of Indian expatriates working in the Sultanate of Oman in the Persian Gulf.[1] The school also admits children of other nationalities. The school is located in the Dahariz area, of Salalah town, in the southern governorate of Dhofar.[2]
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The school is affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, New Delhi, India.[3] It follows textbooks prescribed by the NCERT, New Delhi.[3]
The school has L.K.G & U.K.G in the Kindergarten section & classes 1 to 12 in the primary & higher secondary sections.[3]
English is the primary medium of education, students are required to learn Hindi as a second language from class 1 to 8. Arabic, French or Malayalam can substitute Hindi in classes 9 and 10. A third language, Arabic or Malayalam is a requirement in classes 5 to 8.[3]
The school conducts All-India public exams regulated by the CBSE for classes 10 & 12. The class 9 final exam is conducted as a public exam by the regional Gulf board (an association of Gulf Indian schools).[3]
The institution also holds the Maths olympiad conducted by the Indian National Mathematics Olympiad every February. All top scorers are awarded certificates.[3]
Olympiads for Maths, Science and Computer Science are conducted by the New South Wales University, Australia for classes 9th–12th.
The 1970s and the 1980s witnessed rapid industrial growth in Oman as a result of the oil boom. This required extra employment and the need was met mainly by Indian workers [1] on work permit visas. This community could not bring their children with them from India as there were no Indian academic facilities available then. The Indians in Salalah organised under an Indian club and submitted a petition to the Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said. His benevolence granted permission to construct a small building adjacent to the Indian Club at Haffa area in 1981.[1]
The school started with classes only till class 4 but increased it by one every year.
In 1984, the school, being close to the Sultan's Al Hosn Palace was asked to relocate to Dahariz, a new area being developed for educational institutions. The school relocated to its new campus in September 1985.[1]
The school was brought under the purview of the Ministry of private education, Oman in 1988. The ministry asked the Indian Embassy [2] Oman to disband the old Indian Club sub committee that was managing the school till then & form an independent one consisting of prominent Indian expatriates in Salalah.[1]
The school conducted its first class 10th CBSE public exam in 1988 & the class 12th public exam in 1994. It celebrated its Silver jubilee in February 2006.[1]
The present campus at Dahariz has 15,297 sq m of area with 6,735 sq m built up. [3] The school maintains a turfed playground (the largest lawn amongst all Gulf Schools) & a kindergarten playpen.[4]
The main building is in the form of a rectangle with an open air quadrangle in the centre. All rooms are airconditioned to bear the extreme summer heat.The quadrangle is used for the morning general assembly and miscellaneous functions at night. The building also houses an indoor auditorium, 3 broadband connected computer labs, the science labs, a computerised general library, a first-aid room and an audio-visual room with multimedia facilities.[4]
The school has special facilities for teaching non-scholastic subjects like arts, craft, music, environment and physical education.[3]
The school has about 60 classrooms to accommodate the more than 2,000 students, with 75 teaching and 25 non-teaching staff.[1] A new block was added to the existing building in August 2010.
The school follows a "house" grouping system for conducting various co-curricular activities. Each student is assigned to a particular house at the beginning of the academic year & represents it when participating in any individual or team competition. Victories reward points to one's house, all points are added up at the end of the year & the top 2 houses are awarded rolling trophies on annual day. This system is expected to promote healthy rivalry & team spirit among the students as well as encourage them to participate & display their talents in the various cultural & sports contests.[5]
Blue, Green, Red & Yellow are the 4 house colours used, represented by coloured stripes on the uniform neck-ties of boys or by colored ribbons worn by girls. Specific teachers are appointed as house masters to govern the respective houses. The Office Bearers for every house are democratically elected by the students and administer their oath at the Investiture Ceremony every July. The student representatives are mentioned below. The School Captains & Vice-Captains (a boy and girl each) are elected by the teaching faculty.[5]
The house hierarchy (in descending order):
Inter-house competitions are held throughout the academic year, consisting of cultural—debates, elocutions, extempores, singing, quiz etc.; Athletics—Sprints, Long Jump, Relays, March Pasts etc.; Team Sports—Football, Cricket, Baseball, Throwball etc. highlighting team spirit and mass vocal support from the students for their respective houses.
Besides the house system, another system found in this school to promote teamwork & individual growth is the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme also known as International Award For Young People (IAFYP) for students from class 9 onwards. This is a British Royal family based scheme now spread throughout the Commonwealth. It comprises 3 levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. At the completion of every stage a medal and certificate is issued to the Dukes. The IAFYP encourages students to participate in community social service, expeditions and tours, physical recreation etc.
The school also conducts the Scouts & Guides program from classes 5th to 8th. This program is an extra curricular education consisting of many outdoor physical activities like camping, hiking, knot tying , excursions and social services. The Scouts uniform is a deep blue shirt while the Guides have a deep blue kurta and salvar, with neck kerchief and a campaign hat.
The teachers are given a day off on Teacher's day held on 5 September, the class 11 and 12 students are allowed to impersonate members of the faculty & teach a few classes.
The school celebrates all Indian holidays with cultural festivals that are well-attended by the Salalah populace. The Annual Sports Meet is held usually in November & the School Annual Day in January. The Annual Day is celebrated on a grand scale with various programmes: skits, dances,choirs etc. with the students participating in it whole-heartedly. Students are then conferred with prizes and certificates for outstanding achievements in academics and co-curricular activities for that academic year.