THE Indian Cultural Society Jeddah (ICSJ) distributed approximately 12,500 textbooks, school bags and uniform to needy students of the International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) last week, aptly timed at the start of the new IISJ academic year. ICSJ collected more than 15,000 textbooks from International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) students and parents this year. Arif Quraishi, ICSJ president, said that the group has had an annual collection of textbooks for the past 165-years. Some 2000 textbooks were discarded because of their poor condition. Parents from Makkah, Taif, and Yanbu also came to collect books. Around 500 textbooks were given to one of the other schools in Jeddah. Quraishi said the book collection drive was publicized last month through posters and newspaper announcements. Old textbooks were placed at prime locations, after which they were collected, and arranged class-wise in bundles according to the syllabus, by the ICSJ members and their families. Members include: Arif Siddiqui, Saleh Siddiqui, Maqbool Pervez, Iqbal Sheikh and Amjad. The distribution took place at Shadab Restaurant on a first come first served basis. __
