Indian School, Al-Ghubra

The Indian School Al-Ghubra (ISG) is an independent, co-educational private day school located in the city of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman. The school was founded in July 1990 by Indian born Omani businessman P Mohamed Ali,[1] the managing director of Galfar Engineering and Contracting, one of the largest construction companies in Oman.

Mr. B S Bhatnagar was the principal of the school from 1991 to spring 2006. The present principal is Mrs. Papri Ghosh, who succeeded Mr. G. Thangadurai in 2008. The current vice principal of the school is G. Sreekumar who took over in 2007.

The school is a participant in The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme. The school is also the first and the only school in the gulf that is a member of the Round Square.

Academics

ISG is a co-educational private grammar school which is under the Central Board of Secondary Education of India. The school offers complete educational services starting from Kindergarten through to the 12th grade senior school in line with the grammar curriculum and syllabus prescribed by the CBSE, renowned world over for its rigorous and meticulously thorough educational standards.

The 11th and 12th standard students can choose from two streams of specialisations namely Science and Commerce. The subjects include: Science Stream-Physics, Chemistry, Biology/Computer Science/Economics/Engineering Graphics, Mathematics/Informatics Practices(IP)/Multimedia and Web Technology(MMWT)

Commerce Stream-Accountancy, Business Studies, Computer Science/Economics, Mathematics/Informatics Practices(IP)/Multimedia and Web Technology(MMWT).

IP and MMWT have been recent additions to the subject list. The school also offers an array of languages such as Malayalam,French,Arabic,Sanskrit and Hindi as the Second and Third Languages from grade 6 onward till grade 10.

The school also recognises discipline and values as key to a child's development.

Facilities

ISG has a swimming pool , basketball court, volleyball court and a cricket net.

General facilities

All the classrooms are equipped with whiteboards. In addition, Grades 3 to 12 are also equipped with Smarter Boards with projectors, PCs and WiFi internet connectivity. The school also has an Audio Visual Room, well equipped Science Laboratories, Library and an auditorium which is used for plays/dramas,special occasions,competitions,etc.

Library

The school has a library with a collection of over 39,000 books and is regarded as the largest among all the schools in Oman. The Library has also been recently renovated to provide facilities that include a set of Multimedia Computers equipped with the latest Encarta encyclopaedias, multimedia software and e-books. Students can use these computers at any time to complete their projects and assignments.

Audio Visual Room

With a seating capacity of maximum 30 students, the Audio Visual Room is well equipped with the finest of multimedia technology ensuring a touch of visual enlightenment in an environment conducive to learning.

Smarter Class Room

ISG is equipped with a state-of-the-art Smart Class Rooms. Smart Boards, Overhead Projectors, PCs and WiFi internet connectivity for study purposes only. All computers are connected to each other through a server.But now all classes from KG-1 to class 12 are now having the smart board facility.

Sports facilities

The school has a grass football pitch. It also has a basketball courts and a cricket pitch. The school hall has two badminton courts and can also accommodate six table tennis tables. Students are free to use all these facilities during their Physical Education classes or after school hours, in the evening. The junior school also has a swimming pool. The school boasts of one of the best swimming and cricket teams among all the schools in Oman, which have won many inter-school competitions.

CBSE Nationals

The school takes part in the CBSE national level tournaments in most of the sports. These include Athletics,Badminton, Chess, Cricket, Football, Swimming,Table-Tennis etc. The school has won medals in Athletics,Badminton,Swimming,Tennis,Hockey and Cricket till date.

Student Council

The School Council members are elected democratically by the students of each class. The Student Council has two members from each class, a Boy and a Girl, starting from Grade 6. The office bearers of the Student Council are the Speaker, the Vice President and the President are all elected from the final year students.

Prefectorial body

The prefects are also elected by the students in a democratic way. Every year, the office bearers are the the Headboy, Headgirl, Vice Headboy, Vice Headgirl, President of Student Council, Vice President of Student Council, Speaker of Student Council, President of the Round Square, Sports Captain(Girls), Sports Captain(Boys). There is also a body of prefects, whose number vary around 16.The prefects also have to pay extra when contributing towards any event.

Houses

The students of the school are organised in four houses, which compete against each other in intra-school tournaments, which include sporting and quizzing. The houses are named after significantly famous places in Oman. The houses are Muscat House, Nizwa House, Sohar House, and Sur House.

History

Originally 8 houses competed for the House of the Year award. However, the 4 of the 8 houses have ceased to exist. The houses in alphabetical order preceded by their respective colours are as follows:

House structure and governance

A 'House' comprises a quarter of the Senior Student population and a quarter of the Teaching Staff. 'Senior student' is the educational establishment collective term given for the students enrolled in Grade 6 and upwards until Grade 12.

The house hierarchy is as follows (in descending order):

House Masters and House Mistresses

Each 'House' is governed by the respective Senior Head Housemaster and Head Housemistress, with the individual specialist tasks (such as Debates, Quizzes etc.) often delegated to the Vice Housemaster(s) and Vice Housemistress(es) mutually acknowledged to be the most experienced in the concerned field. As of now they are giving a chance to all the teachers in the school every year to learn to be a responsible and experienced teacher in all the fields.

House Captain

A House Captain, or the Student Head, is often democratically elected by the most senior students and subjective to discretionary approval by the respective Heads of the House. A House Captain is often seen as the person responsible for leading the House up the points table, thereby ensuring that the House procures a strong position and establishes itself as an Award Winner.

House Team Captain

The role of Team Captain, again undergoes a similar democratic treatment with a few minor changes. The respective teams elect their Team Captain. For instance, the members of the Football Team elect their Football Team Captain. The House Captains and/or the House Masters/Mistresses may nominate a candidate but that is as far as it goes. The electoral process is based on mutual acknowledgement by the concerned House Team members. It must be remembered that unlike the House Captain, the powers associated with the role of the Team Captain is very limited and ends once the respective event ends. Nevertheless, the Team Captain has complete freedom to conduct and lead his or her team in any manner he or she wishes, so long as it is in the spirit of healthy competition and in the interests of the House. The Team Captain (although under no obligation to do so) may or may not accept suggestions or tactical advice from the House Captain(s) and/or House Masters/Mistresses, and officially has the last say in developing the strategies and tactics that will be adopted by his or her respective team.

House members

The house membership is strictly reserved for 'Senior Students' (students in Grade 6 and above). All students are expected to take part in an event of their choice, although this is not mandatory. Nevertheless, extending support to their houses in times of competition is greatly recognised and immensely appreciated by all the teams.

Student support

Every student within the House are assigned an Academic Tutor who will be responsible for the student's academic performance, extracurricular achievements and all other issues of concern that would generally benefit the student's welfare both on-campus and off-campus, thereby ensuring a great educational experience during their stay at school. But this is only done twice in a month. As they go to higher standards the teachers minimise to once in a month. So that the students get more time to study

Selection criteria

The selection criteria for the choice of the heads of the houses are based on seniority. The selection criteria for the Junior Head Masters and Mistresses is almost always based on the individual's skills and experience within a particular field. For Example: Language Teachers within a particular House usually take on the roles of coaching the Language Debate House Team.

Assembly

The assemblies are usually conducted every day of the week except Wednesdays because Inspection takes place on that day. Each week, 1 class is assigned the task of conducting it and at the end, the principal speaks about the values and the major events / important values / special guests arriving or anything that needs to be changed or anything that has to take place.

Department of Information Technology (DoIT)

ISG was one of the first schools to incorporate an independent IT department, called the Department of Information Technology or also known as IT department . This allows the school to augment the students existing syllabus with computer education. The department has 164 workstations which are spread over 3 lab. The department is also responsible for maintaining the school's website. This vibrant team is headed by Mr. Arul Das who is also the HOD of the computer science department.

School Song and Motto

The school song was written and composed by Denzel. A.V.Prince.

Quiz teams

The school has produced teams that have won national and international quiz competitions. In 1998, the school won the Times of Oman Quiz and went on to win the All-Asia Bournvita Quiz Contest held in India. The school conducts general knowledge quizzes every month to raise the awareness of world affairs among students.

International Curriculum

Indian School, Al Ghubra has the new International Curriculum of the CBSE from August 2010. ISG is the first school to start the CBSE – i curriculum in Oman. ISG- CBSE-i aims to encourage students to experiment, to learn through hands-on experience, to aspire, to create a passion for learning and to instill in students a self-confident and rational outlook.

CBSE-i is a response to the need to create schools which are futuristic. It is a way to move to an enquiry based skills approach in which teachers and students engage in collaborative learning.

CBSE-i is involved in creating students who raise questions, think,reflect, analyse, interpret, experiment, research and create knowledge.

CBSE-i has schools spread all over the world catering to the needs of the Indian Diaspora settled in different countries. The students in these schools need a curriculum that is competitive with global trends and current pedagogical patterns. There will be International Board Exams held for students in 10th and 12th classes.

Principals

References

  1. ↑ Dr P Mohamed Ali

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