Leading Sharjah developer Arada has awarded the main construction contract for the second school at Aljada, the AED35 billion mixed-use megaproject in Sharjah. 

Valued at AED128 million ($35 million), the contract to build Raffles World Academy, Aljada was awarded to Al Rehab Al Arabi Building Contracting Company, a Sharjah-based contractor.

Developed in partnership with Innoventures Education, Raffles World Academy, Aljada is a new premium K-12 international school located on a 480,000 sq ft plot in the north-west corner of the megaproject. The campus benefits from a strategic location near key community features, including residential neighbourhoods.

Set to welcome its first pupils at the beginning of the 2026–2027 academic year, Raffles World Academy, Aljada will play a central role in the fast-growing community, which already has some 20,000 residents. 

Announcing this, Arada Group CEO Ahmed Alkhoshaibi said: "This contract award highlights our ongoing investment in community infrastructure and our long-term vision for Aljada as a fully integrated destination. We look forward to delivering another school of exceptional building quality, with a wide variety of facilities that will offer best-in-class education to families in Sharjah."

The school will offer the full International Baccalaureate (IB) programme, which comprises the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), IB Middle Years Programme (MYP), IB Diploma Programme (DP) and the IB Career-Related Programme (CP). 

It will provide personalized pathways to higher education by also offering the US High School Diploma to meet the growing demand for high-quality academic institutions in the Northern Emirates.

Poonam Bhojani, CEO of Innoventures Education, said: "We are delighted to be on track to open our first school in Sharjah, which will offer a full IB programme in line with our existing Raffles World Academy in Dubai and also offer the US High School Diploma."

"Raffles World Academy, Aljada will empower students with a holistic, rigorous, and international education for success in an ever-changing world," she added.-TradeArabia News Service