Bangladesh International School, Dammam
Establishment
The school was established on 1 January 1987. H. E. Hedayet Ahmed, then Ambassador of Bangladesh, who proposed the school as a part of the education and cultural wing of the Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia. The school is run by a school management committee, which is elected by the school parents. The school has nearly 1,400 students from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Sudan and other countries.
The school has two sections:
- The school section – Grade KG to Grade X
- The college section – Grade XI to Grade XII
Curriculum
BISD follows the University of Cambridge Local Examination Syndicate for its course structure. Students appear for their 'IGCSE' level examination after completing Grade X, and their 'AS & A' level examination after completing Grade XI and XII, respectively. Both of the examinations take place with the supervision of the British Council in the Eastern Province. The school has 33 male teachers and 51 female teachers who come from countries like Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria. The main language of the school is English but Bengali and Arabic are also taught as compulsory subjects till grade 8.
Online campus
The school executives launched a web portal to help the students get lecture notes, worksheets, and other necessary academic materials. It is also possible to see the examination marks and the report cards of the students. The system is managed by the system's admin, Mr. Imran. The web portal was published along with a new website in 2016.
Hosting of Cambridge International Examinations
Bangladesh International School Dammam has been hosting IGCSE and AS/A Level Cambridge International Examinations and has been a Cambridge Affiliate school since 2015. It is an official IELTS test and training center and also hosts Cambridge primary and upper secondary checkpoint exams.
Since March 2024, the school is also an approved Pearson Edexcel examinations center, hosting IGCSE, A Levels, iPrimary and iLower Secondary exams.
Achievements
Inter-school achievements
In 2016, BISD participated in the Interschool Speech Competition along with Inspire Academy, Manarat, and other Dammam-based schools. BISD came in second place, secured by a Grade IX pupil.
IGCSE exams
At the 2006 British Council annual awards ceremony, Muhammad Ehsanul Hoque was honored for achieving first place in mathematics and economics at A Level. Akil Muhammad Habibullah was ranked first in chemistry at O Level.
At the graduation ceremony in May 2007, Arab News announced in 2006 the school had a 100 percent success rate for students in their final examinations.
In 2011, Fahim Abdullah, who had been a pupil at the school since 2000, got top marks in the IGCSE and GCE A Levels and received three awards: Top in the World in Additional Mathematics and Mathematics (without coursework), and Top in Dammam in Physics in International General Certificate of Secondary Education examination.
Maleeha Choudhury, who had been a pupil since 1998, also achieved Best Across Four Cambridge A Levels and Top in Saudi Arabia in Chemistry. She is currently a student of medicine at Batterjee Medical College in Jeddah.
In 2018, Abdullah bin Joynal, got Top in the world for General Mathematics in IGCSE. As a result, he was granted a scholarship from the school.
Notable alumni
- Elita Karim, singer, journalist, performer, anchor and voice artist.
See also
References
- ^ "Curriculum". Archived from the original on 24 February 2017.
- ^ "Online Campus". Archived from the original on 12 January 2019.
- ^ "IGCSE Exams". Archived from the original on 24 February 2017.
- ^ "Bangladesh International School – Dammam". bisdammam.com. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ "British Council Honors Top Achievers", K S Ramkumar, Arab News, 8 December 2006
- ^ "School Holds Graduation Ceremony", Mohammed Rasooldeen, Arab News, 14 May 2007
- ^ "BISD students get accolade for excelling in Cambridge exams" Archived 31 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Abdul Aziz Mir, Saudi Gazette, 9 April 2012
- ^ "BISD students get accolade for excelling in Cambridge exams". Saudi Gazette. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2013.
- ^ مشرف. "Eighteen students in Saudi Arabia top the world in Cambridge exams | ArabWeeks". Retrieved 28 April 2020.