Bangladesh International School Dammam is an

international school An international school is an institution that promotes education in an international environment or framework. Although there is no uniform definition or criteria, international schools are usually characterized by a multinational student body an ...

located in

Dammam, Eastern Province Dammam ( ar, الدمّام ') is the List of cities in Saudi Arabia by population, fifth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. It is the capital of the Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province. With ...

, Saudi Arabia.

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 Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, 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 The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based examination similar to GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attain ...

' 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 The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

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 Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. The main language of the school is English but

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

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 Cambridge Assessment International Education (informally known as Cambridge International or simply Cambridge and formerly known as CIE, Cambridge International Examinations) is a provider of international qualifications, offering examinations ...

and has been a Cambridge Affiliate school since 2015. It is an official

IELTS The International English Language Testing System (IELTS ), is an international standardized test of English language proficiency for non-native English language speakers. It is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia a ...

test and training center and also hosts Cambridge primary and upper secondary checkpoint 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 took second placed, which was secured by a Grade IX pupil.

IGCSE exams

At the 2006

annual awards ceremony, Muhammad Ehsanul Hoque was honored for achieving first place in mathematics and economics at

A Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

. Akil Muhammad Habibullah was ranked first in chemistry at

O Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

. 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

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 received a free scholarship from the school.

Notable alumni

Elita Karim Dilshad Karim Elita, better known as Elita Karim, is a Bangladeshi singer, journalist, performer, anchor and voice artist. Early life Karim was born on 4 September 1982 in Dhahran the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, she completed her primary school i ...

, singer, journalist, performer, anchor and voice artist.

References

External links

* * {{International schools in Saudi Arabia Educational institutions established in 1987 Bangladeshi international schools in Saudi Arabia Cambridge schools in Saudi Arabia Education in Dammam 1987 establishments in Saudi Arabia