The school was founded on 9 October 1982 as Embassy of India School, Riyadh to cater to the educational requirements of the children of Indian expatriate community working in and around Riyadh city. It was moved from another place quite recently.
Structure
To comply with national educational policies in Saudi Arabia, boys and girls have been accommodated in two separate buildings since 1995. Prior to that, students up to primary grades were placed under coeducation system and the boys and girls in higher grades were taught in separate shifts. The present Boys' school functioned as the only campus till a second premises 5 km away on Khurais Road was started to accommodate female students.
Girls' School
The Girls' School is presently located at Al Farazdaq Rd, Malaz district since 2011. The earlier location at Khurais road about 5 km away from the Boys' School. The girls school is spread over 921600 square meters and includes 120 class rooms, a basketball court, library, computer lab, science labs and canteen. The school has its own fleet of buses to transport students and staff from home to school and back.
Management
The school has a Principal, Principal incharge & Head Misters of respected section and a seven-member Managing Committee. The school's patron is Shri Ahmad Javed, current Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Principals
Mr. Parker and Mr. Mohammed were the first and second principals respectively when the school was located at the old airport road. Mr. Siddiqi of Hyderabad was the third principal of the school when the school was based in Sulaimaniya. Prior to this Mr. Siddiqi had been the principal of Embassy of Indian School, Dammam. Dr. Afsar Khan was the fourth principal of the school and remained at the helm of its affairs till 2000. During his reign, the school grew from a strength of 1600 to a strength of 8500. Prior to this assignment, he was the Principal of Indian School in Salalah and had previously served as the Principal of Model High School, Aurangabad for 5 years. In 2000, Mr. Manzar Jamal Siddiqui, an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University, was appointed as the school principal. Mr. Siddiqui started his career as a postgraduate chemistry teacher at Syedna Tahir Saifuddin High School, Aligarh Muslim University in 1975 and served as Principal. In late 2011, he reached the retirement age of 60 years and asked to be relieved so that he could go back to India and run an educational NGO. The current principal is Dr. Shaukat Parvez. Before joining the school in 2011, he served as the Principal of International Indian School Tabuk for 6 years. Dr. Perwez started his professional career as a lecturer at M.R.S.M. College, Darbhanga, Bihar. He had worked as a teacher in Biology and Section Supervisor at IIS Riyadh for 13 years before leaving for IIS Tabuk. Mr. Tauheed Ahmad Siddiqui is the Vice Principal, Mrs. Meera Rehman is the Vice Principal of the boys section and Mrs. Asma Shah is the Principal in charge of the Girls Section.
Student life
The school serves Kindergarten and Grades 1 through 12. The grades are grouped into sections Kindergarten, pre-primary, primary, middle, secondary and higher secondary. Each section has office bearers - Captain, Vice Captain and Captains for four colour houses for LKG-UKG, I-V and VI-VIII, and for IX-XII they have Captain, Vice Captain, Head Girl/Head Boy, Sports Secretary, Joint Secretary and Captains for four colour houses to help teachers and school staff to manage school and students. The school has been following a semester pattern of exams since 2008 before which a trimester pattern was followed. The academic year begins in the first week of April, with summer and winter breaks in July–August and December respectively. Apart from the high academic standards envisaged by the scheme of studies, an array of co-curricular activities in Elocution, Debate, Declamation, Recitation, Quiz, Essay —writing, Exhibitions, Sports, Picnics, Annual Day, every Thursday circles and several other such activities are incorporated in the curricular for the growth and the development of the pupils.