JEDDAH — The 46th Annual Prize Day of International Indian School-Jeddah (IISJ) was celebrated in a glittering ceremony at the IISJ-boy's section's auditorium on Saturday. Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak was the Chief Guest while Tarek Mishkhes, editor in chief of Urdu News and Malayalam News, was the Guest of Honor. Latifah Mubarak, the wife of consul general, graced the occasion with her presence. The function witnessed distribution of 396 awards to students at a packed auditorium reverberating with the applause of proud parents and teachers who joined in the celebration of the excellent results of the students in AISSCE (XII) and AISSE (X) conducted by CBSE in March-2015 while recognizing the toppers. Meritorious students of classes 6-9 along with the Gulf Board toppers were also given awards by the dignitaries present on the occasion. Students and teachers of the school won accolades from Mubarak and other dignitaries for IISJ's outstanding performance in both academic and co-curricular fields, especially for scoring 100 percent results in CBSE grade 12 examinations for the fifth year in a row. In the keynote speech, Mubarak congratulated the academic toppers and highlighted the importance of life skills in today's world. “Whatever you do, give your best.” He advised the passing out students to focus on creativity and innovation, as they are yardstick in scaling ladders of success. “In this hyperconnected world, many of the employment opportunities are substituted by machines. But the top layer of job, where creativity and innovation are the key elements, cannot be replaced by machines, and this was evident in the examples of scientists, doctors, lawyers, journalists, and diplomats. But the middle layer and the unskilled layer are being replaced by machines,” he said while cautioning that sophisticated software and machines are all out to replace only unskilled staff. “In the employment market, no professional management is keen on hiring a candidate unless and until it is convinced that he will add some additional value to the assigned job.
Mubarak underscored the need for acquiring basic skills, knowledge and motivation. These three are basically associated with academic excellence. An institution wants to know what you can add to that knowledge. What differentiates you from others in the level of motivation and passion is significant. One who makes utmost productivity in any field is the most valuable one in the employment market and hence passion or curiosity quotient is more important than intelligence quotient as it keeps you afloat. You have to acquire entrepreneur skill in any career because how best one can do is important. Mishkhes appreciated the excellent result of IISJ and advised the students to learn to face new challenges and overcome them. “Let nothing hold you back” he said. Mishkhes acknowledged the contribution of the teachers in the success of the students. He advised students to learn how to deal with the changed situations. “Today you have stepped into an important phase in your life. You have acquired ability to meet the challenges. You should know how to deal with the changed situations and try not to lose your balance,” he said while congratulating teachers for their key role in enabling the students to achieve brilliant results in addition to playing an important role in shaping their personality. Congratulating the students, Head of Chancery and the School Observer Mohammad Raghib Qureshi urged them to become role models for other students. He remarked that an award is just a start to spur the students to move forward and exhorted the students to follow their dream, excel in their chosen field and never to bow down to pressure. He advised them to take wise decisions and never get stuck under stress while facing challenges, besides seizing the numerous opportunities that lay open in front of them. In his inspiring speech, Higher Board Member and former Chairman of the IISJ Managing Committee Hassan Ghias lauded the school staffers and students for effectively leveraging their capabilities to score such an outstanding result even within many constraints. He counted qualities of head and of heart as very important in achieving success. “To have a vision and align people behind that vision, besides team work and managing stress, together with maintaining a balance between work and life without compromising on values are also significant,” he said. While congratulating the students for their excellence performance, Mohammed Abdul Raziq, chairman of the Managing Committee, appreciated the dedication of teachers and cooperation of parents to bring laurels to school for the fifth consecutive year. He also explained the managing committee's endeavor to further improve quality of education and infrastructure facilities. Earlier, IISJ Principal Syed Masood Ahmed welcomed the gathering. While presenting the annual report, Masood commended students and teachers for the school's marvelous achievement. The report had shed light on IISJ's outstanding performance in both curricular and co-curricular activities that put the school on top among all other international Indian schools in the Kingdom. “IISJ believes that excellence cannot be achieved without having better coordination and cooperation with the parents. We routinely conduct parents' orientation programs in our bid to achieve all round development of personality,” he said. Dr. Najeeb Qais, Vice Principal (Boys), proposed a vote of thanks. The vice principals, headmasters, teachers, parents and the meritorious students attended the program, which began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur'an by Areeb A. Majeed Khan and translation by Fuzail Sherif. The school choir — students of the VI-VIII GS trained by Bindu Udayan welcomed the audience with a melodious song. CBSE toppers were given proficiency awards by the dignitaries followed by the teachers amidst thunderous applause from the audience. Five teachers who completed 25 years of service in the school were felicitated with mementos. Shahtaj Arifa, Asma Khaja, Hina Hussien, Tabassum Ahsan and Sabiha Akhter received the mementos from the School Observer. The teachers of class 12 were felicitated with appreciation awards for 100% results in class 12 exams. The HMs of IX-XII block GS and BS were also honored with mementos for their relentless services to their respective blocks. The school toppers are as follows: Kristin Davis bagged the overall first position in AISSC exam (12) and Hasan secured the second position (96%) followed by Ulfat Rehman at the third position (95.8%). The program came to an end with the singing of the National Anthem. B. Zaidi was the anchor.
