Page 513 - Records of Bahrain (6)_Neat

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Improvements in education, 1942-1945 501

QOXJFIDKNTIAL.
D.O. No. 323-B. The Re Bid on oy,
Bufahlx'o,
the Oth April 1944*

Will you please refer to tho proposals initiated
by yowle in hia dera 1-offioial letter No, C/354 datod the
15th August 1939 to Peal with a aopy to you, for a proposed
Gulf College at Bahrain 1 felt certain when I heurd of
this projuot that It was completely misoonoieved, and my
first discussions with Dundac of the British Qounoll oon-
firmod that whereas the figuroe of tnooroe in the estimates
were greatly over *&time, ted the ooot of the building had
been largely under estimated, eventually Z suggested
in my D.O. «270-&T'of thi let Kay j.94x to weightman thut we
should clrup the whole projeot until wa had reoelvcd the
advloe of the Uduoatlonal coarniso loner after he had seen
Bahrain and the looul conditions, The proposals also met
with a good deal of opposition from Belgrave, most of it
quite eound in Itself, on the grounds that the proposals
for a Gulf College, would take the control away from the State
without giving them any appreoiablo benefits and involve
them in a grout deal of expense without any very tangible
rflIUlt Bf /'C i*i v .

2. This much good emerged from all these discussions
that Adrian Vallanoe was oont by the Bri ti eh Counoil, who
subsidised him to the tune of £ BOO per annum. He showed
u groat deul uf energy at the sturt, but was unfortunately
lacking in the taot required fbr this post, aid the Ututo
asked fbr a ohange. The British Counoil, who therr.seIves
oonaidarod Adrian Vallanoe rather hot-hoaded, provided us
with a man called v/alcolin who had formerly been in the Stewart
tfomorial College at Isfahan and later as teohnioal instructor I
vdth the A.I.G.C. The reports on him were quite enoouraging,
and he wus sent to take over. I plaoo below his report^"
on the work of tho Bahrain Biuoation Department for the year
1943 together vdth a copy of a demi-official letter from
V.i c.kinbothuo )fo. 0/401 dated the 89 th February 1944. It will
bo soon that fur from there being any oaoa for a college at
Bahrain, w« levs not yot sucooedcd in getting a deoent
seoondaxy oohool, and it y/ol on this that .T based my original
objection to the proposals, I felt certain that unless and
until thoro was u rosily sound secondary oohool at Bahrain
it vw»u put! 11ig the oori uofore me horse to talk of higher
education or ony super lor form of tcohnlnrd instruction.
Wakelin entirely agrees with these views*
3. It may be thought very discouraging that after all
these yearn of non troll jug 1 uf juuu.r In }^br«i.iri we should
have suoh poor results to show, The reascti is that until
Adrian Ybllunoo arrived* the ;kLne«*.tioi< •««)*> ai tr.*ut, whioh is
under Bhaikh Abdullah arid not Belgrave, hud been run purely
for show and not for pruotfuul use, but At is quite probable
/ that
bir oiui oaroe, K.O.l.ii., O.tl.I •» 1.0. o • *
Ccorotury i.o the Sovernueiit vl' l'v.ula
in the External Affairs Department,
n K W D JS L V. I.