This Day in History (1978): School enrollment tops 2,000

From the Sept. 13, 1978, edition of The Arabian Sun

It was back to reading, writing, arithmetic, and such newly added subjects as health education when approximately 2,200 children arrived at the Aramco Schools on Saturday morning, Sept. 9, to begin the first day of the fall trimester.

"It's our biggest enrollment by far," says superintendent of schools J.W. DeWaard, noting that the number of pupils has increased by almost one-third since September of last year.

Some of the increased enrollment is due to the opening of a new Aramco School in 'Udhailiyah, formerly serviced by a Saudi Arabian International School, but much of it was due to growth within the established Aramco communities of Abqaiq, Dhahran, and Najmah.

In Abqaiq, enrollment increased from 225 pupils last September to 397 this year, or about 50 percent. In Dhahran primary school, enrollment went up from 430 to 530, intermediate school enrollment from 305 to 390, and junior high enrollment from 296 to 351. The Najmah School enrollment jumped from 295 to 497. And in 'Udhailiyah, enrollment literally tripled, with the number of pupils increasing from 28 last year to 85 this year.

Caption for top photo: Their "Hi" was a trifle shy, but tentative smiles appeared as these fledgling pupils decided school was a good place to be as 115 kindergartners inaugurated the new Primary School Building.

Also on this date

2008 — Hurricane Ike makes landfall on The Texas Gulf Coast of the United States, causing heavy damage to Galveston Island, Houston, and surrounding areas

2007 — The Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly

1987 — A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiania, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning

1985 — Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games

1977 — General Motors introduces Diesel engine, with Oldsmobile Diesel engine, in the Delta 88, Oldsmobile 88, and Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser models among others

1968 — Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact

1956 — The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage

1948 — Margaret Chase Smith is elected U.S. senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate

1933 — Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament

1899 — Henry Bliss is the first person in the U.S. to be killed in an automobile accident

1898 — Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film

1843 — The Greek Army rebels against the autocratic rule of king Otto of Greece, demanding the granting of a constitution

1791 — King Louis XVI of France accepts the new constitution