Page 241 - Records of Bahrain (5) (ii)_Neat

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The progress of state education, 1939-1941 561

Zoomotry and projection. In those circumatuncoo the work can havo
vary little meaning to thorn, A good knowledge of drawing io
absolutely ouoontial to tho modem induotriol artisan, For thio
reason, and in consideration of tho fact that the Xrub peoplo3
tfonorally have little aptitude for the graphic ort3,' inqtrijation
in any kind of drawing should bo in the hands of an expert teacher.
• ; ; ... • . • • '
In tho craft work ao well ao in the dray/ing NEGLECT OF
thoro io a tendency to negloot the olomontary oxerr FOUNDATION
oises which require aocurucy in a few einiplw opera-r WORK.'
tions. Eaotcrn teachers invariably despise element­
ary work, thinking that advanced exercises, howevor badly done,
indicate a high standard of teaching. Actually it is becuuso of
thoir contempt for simple groundv/ork that so little success attendo
tho offorto of thooe toachera to give advanced inotruotion. This
hao been ably stated by tho writer of tho Roport on Education in
Bahrain in connoction with aoademic studios, and what he say3
applies with double force to the teaching of craft work.
Practically the whole of tho present school SCHOOL
building consists of workshops. The rooms are rather BUILDING.
too small for pro.ctical work, particularly woodwork.
Tho woodwork class is congested and confused, not only on account
of the lack of space, but also because thoro ara no proper work
benches. The only space available for a classroom is a small
cubicle intended for use as a 3tore or a master’s office. There
is as yet no lavatory accommodation in or near the building. I
havo suggested elsewhere in this Roport that the present building
could be better used as a line of classrooms and offices, the work­
shops being transferred to new buildings more suitably proportioned.
The tools and machinery used in tho school, EQUIPMENT.
arc of u suitable kind for instructional purposed
and trade practice. They are inadequate, however, even for tho
present small number of pupils• There is, for example, only ono
lathe An the engineering workshop and no other machine tools of a
suitable typo. Although workshop equipment is very costly, the
cost per pupil is much loss when a large number aro undergoing
training at tho eume time. Thus, twenty boys taking a course of
engineering workshop practice (fitting and machinists' work)
require vory little rnoro equipment than ten boys undergoing tho
sumo course, the extra requirements being mainly benches and small
tools; the machines and heavy equipment ore nearly the same in
both cases. Moreover, if there are forty boys to be taught, there
could bo two classes of twenty working at alternato times and
using oxaotly the some equipment. This consideration docs not, of
course, apply in the same way to trades in which only hand tools
are used, and the scheme of alternate classes cannot be fully
operative in a school where more than half the time is devoted to
workshop instruction.
Thero is no proper accommodation in tho present CLASSROOM
Tochnical School for class instruction. If subjects INSTRUCTION,
such as English, arithmetic* and drawing are to be
properly taught, there should be suitable classrooms away from the
noise of the workshops. Lack of accommodation may be partly re­
sponsible for the low standard of class teaching in the school i
but there iG also evidence of school subjects not having been
taken seriously, on account of the low educational stundurd of the
boys admitted to the school. It is everywhere acknowledged that
English and elementary mathematics at least should bo studied by
boys undergoing industrial training, especially those who anticipate
cmiJloyment

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