Ideal Indian School

Nineteen years ago; Ideal Indian School was established by 62 philanthropic expatriate Indians of Qatar who wished to set up an educational institution for the Quality Education of the Indian Expatriate Community in DOHA. The school is managed by an eleven member Managing Committee elected from among the 62 Founder Members (Council of Founder Members). Affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi the school prepares students for Secondary (Std. X) and Senior Secondary (Std.XII) Examinations of the Board. It has produced 100% results in these two examinations for the last 12 years.

There are about 4000 students in the school. Though the student population of the school is largely Indian, there are students belonging to about 26 other nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Somali, Indonesian, Sudanese, and Nigerian etc. This gives the school an international character. The medium of instruction is English and the language of communication in the campus is strictly English. Hence fluency in spoken and written English is an important basic qualification of the persons seeking appointment to a teaching post in the school.

History

The expatriate community in Doha felt the need for an education institution, which could provide high standard of education to their children. In spite of the many hindrances these enthusiastic Indians were successful in their mission and at last 62 philanthropists fully devoted to the cause of the institution with the sole objective of imparting qualitative education which ensures all round development of a child’s personality so that he can cope with the latest scientific and technological advancement in a rapidly changing society. The school is run on a no-loss and no-profit basis by its founding fathers. Being established for the noble cause, this institution is developing and progressing by leaps and bounds since its inception, which is evident, is evident from the timeline (below) showing the schools achievements.

1985

The school was established at Najma near Canada Dry. It was a big rented villa with a lot of open space for the students to play. The school started functioning on the 20th of May in full swing under the Principal-ship of Mr. Majid. This premises along with some porter cabins was big enough to run the 10 divisions very smoothly. During the first year there were only primary and pre-primary classes which were run by the 15 locally appointed lady teachers who were qualified and experienced in their profession. In the first year the school provided three new air-conditioned buses for the students. The school offered English, Maths, Hindi, Science, and Social Science as a third language.

=198 The school, as formally inaugurated by H.E. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Hamad Al Thani, the then Minister of Education of the State of Qatar, on 24th February 1986. The school victoriously marched into its second stage of development and expansion, from Junior to middle classes just in its second year of its existence. As a result, we had to acquire a new building at Mansoura keeping in view the future growth. The premises that were known as the New Wing housed about 190 students, both boys and girls together, in 8 divisions from the Std.II to VI. The first batch of 5 sponsored teachers landed in Doha on the 11th September and joined the school the very next day. In November, Mr.G.M.Khan took charge of the school as the first sponsored Principal. By the end of this year the school offered Urdu to the students, to study as a third language.

1987

Keeping in view the local rules and the directives of the Department of Private Education, and also as a result of rapid growth in the number of students, another building was rented only for Girls in Southern Mansoura. This block which was known as Girls Wing accommodated 170 girls in 8 divisions from Std. II to Std.VII. This year, a new class, Std.VII was added both in the Girls Wing and the Boys Wing. To enable the students to keep pace with the technological advancement, computer education was introduced for the students of Std. VI onwards and a separate computer laboratory was established at the Old Wing at Najma. The school developed quite rapidly and there were 684 students, 28 divisions and 41 teachers by the end of the year. The school got Middle School Syllabus approved by the Central Board of Secondary Education (Delhi) on 20th August under the Code No.63302. The school transport facility was extended up to Umm Said. Mr. R.A.H.Naqvi, the second sponsored Principal on 1st September 1987.

1988

The school completed the development of the middle stage, as Std. VIII was added to the Boys Wing as well as the Girls Wing. Six sections of Std. II were added to the Junior Wing at Najma which increased the total number of divisions to 19 at the Junior Wing. Though there was a library in the school, a full fledged library which catered to the needs of all the three wings was established, By this time the school brought out the first issue of the Idealite, the student magazine which depicted the students’ creative talents.

1989

By the addition of the one more new class, i.e., Std. IX and due to the large number of new admissions the number of divisions increased to 42 as compared to 35 in 1988. Since further expansion was not possible in all three wings, the school acquired the fourth building adjacent to the then Boys Wing to accommodate 6 divisions of Std. III. In September, all the wings except the Junior Wing were shifted to the present school premises at Salwa Road in one campus. In order to satisfy the urge to learn the diverse languages India is made up of, the school offered Marathi, Kannada, and Tamil to the students from Std. III to VIII. In the same year the school got provisional affiliation to the Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi for 3 years from 1st April 1989 to 31st March 1992 after the official inspection on 18th November by the CBSE Chairman, Dr. H.S. Singha.

1990

During the summer vacation, the Principal’s office, Administration, Accounts and the KG classes were shifted to the Salwa Road premises, a very big place centrally air-conditioned having an area of 65,000 sq. mts. Though financially it was a burden, it was a very bold and wise step on the part of the Management as it facilitated the smooth running of the school of the school from the administrative point of the school and it also gave a sigh of relief to the parents who could drop and pick-up their children studying in various wings from one spot only. The school was taking very long strides on the path of progress and development but all of a sudden the very existence of the school was threatened due to the invasion of Kuwait in August and the possibility of the Gulf War in January 1991, as most of the expatriates sent their families back to their respective countries. About 40% students left the school and some of the teachers also left the school and some of the teachers also left Doha as a precautionary measure, so consequently the number of divisions and teachers fell. But academically the school was still on the path of progress as it had reached up to the level of grandeur and good reputation. After conducting a survey, the school offered Telugu as a third language to the students from Std. III to VIII. Mr. K.S.Murthi was the next Principal who took over in May 1990.

1991

The first batch of 26 students (17 boys and 9 girls) appeared at the AISSE Examination (Class X) in March 1991 and got 100% pass results, securing high percentages in all subjects. The school introduced Science Section in Std. XI with English (Core), Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology as electives. Taking into consideration the rapid growth of the school, high standard of education and the 100% pass result in AISS Examination, the Central Board of Secondary Examination, Delhi, upgraded our school (for the Std. XI and Std. XII) with Science Stream and granted regular affiliation of the school up to the 31st of March 1994.

1992

During this year the school achieved it’s goal by adding two more divisions of Class XII one each for Boys and Girls with 10 students (7 boys and 3 girls). On 10th February Mr. K.S.Murthi resigned from the post of Principal. However the school continued to run in the hands of our school Vice-Principal, Mr. Abdul Wadood Khan. In spite of administrative changes the school maintained its traditional trends of growth and by the end of the year there were about 1600 students in 53 divisions from KG I to Std. XII. French was introduced as a third language in Primary and Middle classes. Mrs. D.M.de Rebello, the Chairperson of CBSE, Delhi inspected the school on 20th December 1992 and remarked, “The school has got very good physical facilities, classrooms, laboratories and playing grounds”. The school brought out its first newsletter in June with Mr. Nanda as its editor.

1993

The school sent out its first batch of 10 students of Class XII to appear for the AISSC Examination in March and all the students got through the examination securing good percentage. After getting permission from the CBSE, Delhi, the school introduced Commerce Stream in Class XI with Accounts, Business Studies, Economics and Introductory Computer Science. In August the CBSE, Delhi, extended the regular affiliation up to 31st March 1997. During this year, the new Principal, Dr. T.K.Mohammed took over.

1994

The school was fast growing and there was no sufficient space to add new classrooms. Taking into consideration the future requirements the school management acquired the adjacent villa having an area of 15,000 sq.mts. Fifteen divisions of Class I and II were shifted to the new premises under a Headmistress. The school got the permission from CBSE to introduce Geography, History, Psychology, Engineering Drawing and Home Science in XI and XII classes. The school offered Urdu, Malayalam and French to be studied as third languages in Class I to IV and Hindi as a third language in Classes III and IV.

1995

The school is on the track of fast growth and development. There were about 2200 students and 78 divisions. There are 130 dedicated, qualified and highly experienced teachers out of which 68 are sponsored. Our school can boast of having a multicultural character as the student population consists of about 22 nationalities. There are 3 spacious laboratories, which are well equipped with modern apparatus suffered enough for about 30 minutes to do practicals at a time. The school library has made tremendous growth in books, building and furniture in the past years. It is enriched with the most frequently used reference tools such as Encyclopedias, Year Books, Dictionaries and Periodicals. We follow the open access system, which enables the students to access the books in the library. Books are issued to the students of Class V onwards. There are about 7000 books on various subjects such as periodicals including National Geographic, P.C Magazine, Maths Teacher and ELT Journal.

2000

The school now boasts of a student population of over 4000 and from over 30 different nationalities. Added to that is the presence of over 180 highly qualified and experienced teachers. There are now 180 divisions and the number is still growing. And the campus now sprawls over 160,000 square meters of land. The Boys Wing has 2 well-equipped computer laboratories with the latest of computer technology put at our student’s disposal. The Girls wing also boasts a well-equipped laboratory for physics, chemistry, biology, computer science and home science. The fact that the school is growing is an understatement. The sky is the limit when you’re an Idealite and that’s exactly where we are aiming. This is just the beginning of the millennium and the start of our future.

2001

The school has entered the millennium and the flame is still burning strong among the Idealites.

External links

* [http://www.idealschool.edu.qa Official web site]