RAMSES COLLEGE FOR GIRLS

An Egyptian school for girls from kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Ramses College for Girls (founded as the American College for Girls), located at Ramses Square in Cairo, Egypt, originated as a trilingual (English, Arabic, and French) missionary school of the United Presbyterian Church of North America. Founded by Ella Kyle, its first building was inaugurated in 1910 by former U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt. The student body included girls of various ethnicities—Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Abyssinian (Ethiopian), Egyptian, Syrian, and Lebanese, as well as girls from the Gulf states—many of whom attended as boarders. Dr. Helen T. Martin served as principal from 1923 to 1956. In 1960, with the nationalization of private schooling, its ownership was transferred to the Evangelical Synod of the Nile, an Egyptian Protestant organization. The school's cosmopolitan community gradually dwindled until it became entirely Egyptian. In 1967, following the Arab–Israel War and subsequent strained relations with the United States, the school's name was changed to Ramses College for Girls. From 1967 to 1992 the school's principal was Reda Salama of the legendary Salama sisters (her sister Mary was principal of Port Said School), who established an Institute of Secretarial Studies and a Department for Girls with Special Needs. The school's graduates include leading figures in social development, aviation, diplomacy, government, and education, such as Aziza Hussein, Lutfia Nady, Aida Guindi, and Nawal al-Tatawi. By 2003, more than two thousand girls were enrolled in the school.

linda herrera