SAISA

The schools annually arranged sporting, cultural and academic events. These included flag football, basketball, field hockey and soccer; track & field, swimming, tennis, badminton and table tennis. Cultural events consisted of drama, with each school performing a one-act play, music, and art. Academically, College Bowl, debate and chess also featured. Small schools like MCS typically closed down for a week in order to participate in multiple events. These events were all held on the same week, not spread out over the year as they are currently. Later, other international schools around South Asia began to join the organization. The [[American Embassy School, New Delhi|American Embassy School ]](AES) [[Delhi]] joined SAISA after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which also ended Kabul’s involvement in SAISA.

The schools annually arranged sporting, cultural and academic events. These included flag football, basketball, field hockey and soccer; track & field, swimming, tennis, badminton and table tennis. Cultural events consisted of drama, with each school performing a one-act play, music, and art. Academically, College Bowl, debate and chess also featured. Small schools like MCS typically closed down for a week in order to participate in multiple events. These events were all held on the same week, not spread out over the year as they are currently. Later, other international schools around South Asia began to join the organization. The [[American Embassy School, New Delhi|American Embassy School ]](AES) [[Delhi]] joined SAISA after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, which also ended Kabul’s involvement in SAISA.

By the early nineties, the original schools were joined by the [[American International School of Dhaka]] (AISD), the Overseas Children’s School of Colombo (OCS and [[Lincoln School, Kathmandu|Lincoln School]], [[Kathmandu]] (LS). OCS later became the [[Overseas School of Colombo]] (OSC). In the early nineties, SAISA decided to split into two divisions, East and West, for swimming and track & field. Three major all-SAISA sports tournaments were held per year. However, during the 1996-97 academic year tournaments were "split"; for instance, the Boys Soccer and Girls Basketball tournaments, which had recently been hosted together at AES (1993–94), ISI (1994–95), and again at AES (1995–96), were split between ISI (Boys Soccer) and LAS (Girls Basketball), thereby allowing some of the smaller schools to host events. Meanwhile, the Cultural Convention focused on music, drama and art. Later art was dropped from the program. Soon after AISC or The American International School of Chennai joined,

By the early nineties, the original schools were joined by the [[American International School of Dhaka]] (AISD), the Overseas Children’s School of Colombo (OCS) and [[Lincoln School, Kathmandu|Lincoln School]], [[Kathmandu]] (LS). OCS later became the [[Overseas School of Colombo]] (OSC). In the early nineties, SAISA decided to split into two divisions, East and West, for swimming and track & field. Three major all-SAISA sports tournaments were held per year. However, during the 1996-97 academic year tournaments were "split"; for instance, the Boys Soccer and Girls Basketball tournaments, which had recently been hosted together at AES (1993–94), ISI (1994–95), and again at AES (1995–96), were split between ISI (Boys Soccer) and LAS (Girls Basketball), thereby allowing some of the smaller schools to host events. Meanwhile, the Cultural Convention focused on music, drama and art. Later art was dropped from the program. Soon after AISC or The American International School of Chennai joined,

When the decision was made to do music and drama separately, the idea was to rotate these each year so that schools could attend only one event would be able to do music on year and drama the next. However, the logistics proved too complex and by the mid-90s, drama had settled into a February slot and music into April. Only the large schools like Islamabad, Delhi and Dhaka, which had large campuses and enough housing for all participants, were able to host the all-SAISA events. This limited smaller schools to hosting East/West tournaments, split tournaments, or middle school-only events. MCS, for example, hosted the SAISA West Middle School Boys Soccer tournament with participants from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad staying at the nearby Pearl Continental hotel in Bhurban.

When the decision was made to do music and drama separately, the idea was to rotate these each year so that schools could attend only one event would be able to do music on year and drama the next. However, the logistics proved too complex and by the mid-90s, drama had settled into a February slot and music into April. Only the large schools like Islamabad, Delhi and Dhaka, which had large campuses and enough housing for all participants, were able to host the all-SAISA events. This limited smaller schools to hosting East/West tournaments, split tournaments, or middle school-only events. MCS, for example, hosted the SAISA West Middle School Boys Soccer tournament with participants from Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad staying at the nearby Pearl Continental hotel in Bhurban.