Page 215 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (3)_Neat

p=r'7' i •• • i
r

NEGLECTED ARABIA l.i

them on a duplicating machine. He has six teachers under him, some
0[ whom he has trained himself. Their salaries range from rupees forty
iu rupees one hundred and twenty a month. The superintendent receives
inure. There are now about 220 pupils in the school, in graded classes.
The curriculum includes the Koran, traditions, canon law, ethics, Arabic
reading, composition and grammar, arithmetic, geography, history and
English. The school is therefore advanced far beyondthe usual mulla
jehool, but even so it does not pretend to give more than a primary
education. Its courses may all be completed in four or five years.
The Ahmadiya School was founded about four years ago under the
auspices of the Moslem Benevolent Association, with the assistance of
ihe Ruler of Kuwait, Shaikh Ahmad al-Jabir al-Sabah, in whose honor
it lias its name, just as the first school was named in honor of Shaikh
Mubarak who was Ruler then. It has its own Board of Trustees. Its
income is derived from the fees of the students, supplemented by annual
contributions from benevolent residents, and it is therefore not on a very
secure basis. The school has seven teachers and 165 pupils and its
curriculum is the same as that of the Mubarakiya School. The two
tfhools are to a certain extent rivals, since their locations are not far
ajart and they teach the same subjects, but it is planned that the
Ahmadiya will become a secondary school when they can get qualified
teachers for the salaries they can afford to pay and also students ready
lu take advanced work.
The Sellout fur Orphuna uml other poor boya ia supported entirely by
uiio family of wealthy pcurl merchants. It luia about 130 pupils and six
leathers whose salaries vary from rupees twenty to rupees one hundred
j<r mensem. Its curriculum includes the usual Koranic branches with
kiitory and probably arithmetic in addition.

Other Schools
There are eight schools of the second class. These have one manag­
ing teacher who employs one or two others as assistants and pays them
frum the monthly fees of the pupils. These schools have from thirty-
h\c to eighty-five boys. The curriculum usually includes a small amount
of arithmetic in addition to the Koran and elementary Arabic branches.
There are at least sixteen schools in the third class, which may be
oiled the mulla schools. They have one teacher each with'about eighteen
pupils. They teach the Koran only, as in the schools for girls. Poor
pupils on graduating from one section of the Koran to another collect
funds from benevolent persons for presentation to the teacher.
There are three Persian schools which teach writing and arithmetic
a addition to the reading of the Koran, while the other eight teach the
subject only.
The Jewish school has one teacher who instructs his fifteen pupils in
Hebrew reading and writing only, for which he receives thirty rupees a
©oath from the Hebrew community.
One of the former Mission school boys conducts a night class teaching
tnglish to a dozen or more young men who work during the day. There
to also a Persian who teaches English and Persian to a few boys and
)9UMg men,