Page 169 - Records of Bahrain (5) (ii)_Neat

The progress of state education, 1939-1941 491

13

flavin# (liacussod tbo seven causes of incflioicncy, lot us considor wlmt
necessity school features uro oomplotoly absent from tho prosout systom
of education in Bahrain.

In my opinion, there arc threo serious deficiencies, and tho first and
t hief ol theso i chi tea to tho Caro of Health.
1 hope I do not speak too strongly whon I say that tho health arrange­
ments in the schools of Bahrain, or rathor, tho luck of thorn, would bo a
reproach to any educational system in tho world. The.ro is, in fact, no oaro
of school health at all—and this in a Stato whero several kinds of serious
discaso uro particularly prevalent, and where tho most eluboruto hoalth
provisions are being made in other directions. I am putting it mildly when
/ say that I was shocked at what I saw in tho schools—and no doubt tho
children who wero present during my visit wero only tho healthier ones.
Thero wero numbers of quito young boys who had lost, or woro losing,
ono oyo, and there woro many who would inevitably loso both. Tho
condition of some of theso children was suoh that they woro not ovon ablo
to open their eyes to tho light. Not ono of those whom I questioned had
received any medical altoution at all.

In all tho schools, practically tho only hoys who wero free from dontal
decay were the boys of African origin. Thoro was no school dental servico,
and no school instruction in dontal knowledge : tho idea soomed to bo quito
unknown.
'■ •• •
'/ . In sorao of tho schools about half of tho hoys prosont woro heavily
marked with smallpox, aud of courso I saw only tho survivors.

Malaria is very prevalent in somo of the school districts, and it plays
havoc with tho health of ohildrcn ; yot I could hear of no school organisa­
tion of any kind for combating it, or of any school instruction about it.
Under-nourishment was rifo in every school, and any doctor would bo
ahlo to ndviso the Govorumont of all tho evils which undor-nourisbmont
brings in its train.
Whon I expressed my ustonishmout at this stato of affairs, all tho
hcadmastors assured mo that it bad nover bcou mado a part of thoir duty to
concern themselves with thoir pupils’ houlth. Two of thorn, howovor, told
mo that they occasionally gavo quinine tablets to boys whom thoy noticed
to ho suffering from malaria in tho classrooms : but theso acts of kindness
emanated from thoir own hearts, and not from any organised plan of attack
'Ton school disease. The headmaster of Ilcdd School had a small storo of
"ledicincs, which ho hud obtained at his own oxponso, for tho use of thoso
°* ,!is pupils who showed obvious signs of illness whilo actually sitting in
meir desks. That was all. I learned that no school rules had over boon
nuuk; about tho isolation of tho sick from tho healthy, and that thoro was
1,0 “"ison of any kind betwcon the schools and tho disponsurios.
In a report on school houlth in Bahraiu, which has just boon sout to
mo by post, I find tho seutonco : "Children requiring treabmont for auy
condition aro Font to tho noarost govoruraent clinic." llowovor true this
•u:iy bo in thoory, I am quito satisfiod, from what I was told at tho schools,
a,ul Jnmh what I havo soon for mysolf, that it docs not happon iu practico.
Am there, for exnmplo, any govorumont cliuics at all at Budaya, Rufa’a, or
o'lra—all of which oontain sohools ? And if not, in what manner are