JEDDAH — The Pakistan International School (Azizia)-Jeddah (PISJ) recently held the annual prize distribution ceremony for classes V-VIII amid excitement and jubilation. Waseem Sikander Hayat, wife of the link officer of the Pakistani Consulate General, who was the chief guest at the event, distributed prizes to outstanding students. In her inspiring address, Hayat congratulated the top winners and their parents on their astounding academic performance. She prayed for the continued success of the students and the school. The program was conducted by Muneera Masud, deputy controller of examinations, while Mahjabeen and Romila Yasin announced the names of prize winners. The program began with the recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Mahnoor Abdul Aziz of VII C, followed by a translation presented by Hafsa Khan of VII E. Presenting the school's annual report, Vice Principal Rakhshanda Mahmood said the school continued to strive for excellence. She said of 1,548 students from classes V-VIII who took the annual examination, 1,428 passed. The overall pass percentage was 92.2, while it was 95 percent for classes VII and VIII. Mahmood said the school had set up various committees to improve students' performance. Extracurricular activities, such as fine arts exhibition, home economics exhibition, speeches, debates, spelling bees and writing competitions, Islamic, science and social studies quizzes, were conducted under specific societies at the school. She also spoke about the sports day organized by the school's sports committee. Noreen Altaf of Class VIII was the top scorer with 93.75 percent marks. The overall first, second and third position holders were: Class VIII — Noreen Altaf, Maham Irfan and Munira Saeed (joint winners), Mishal Arif; Class VII — Humam Mehnaz, Sundus Majed, Ruqaiyah Neaz; Class VI — Syeda Faiza Saleem, Warda Iftikhar, Zainab Jafri; Class V— Taehreem Saleem, Ayesha Iftikhar, Tooba Sarfraz. Colorful tableaux, titled "Dil Dil Pakistan", "I am a Muslim," and Tez Qadam were presented by the students prepared by Riffat-un-Nisa, Shaheena Parveen, Naureen Farooq, Naureen Mateen, Tabassum Sheikh, Raheela Arshad, Sheeba and Sidra Faisal. Finally, Shahana Javed, senior house mistress, announced that Aisha House received the highest score in academics. Reviewing the program, Bushra Asif, controller of examinations and the overall in-charge of the program, said, "The success of this program was the result of hard work and the untiring effort of all committee members." — SG
