Page 426 - Bahrain Gov annual reports (V a)_Neat

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1940. The next important development was the appointment of a British Director of
Education, Mr. Adrian Vallancc, and a British Headmaster in the Technical School, the former
had previously served in the Iraq Ministry of Education. These appointments were made in
conjunction with the British Council and it was from that time that the British Council gave
valuable help to Bahrain in recruiting staff for the schools and in many other matters relating to
Education. During Vallance’s administration the first Secondary School was started, providing
a three years course with an annual intake of 33 boys. There was a great deal of competition
to enter the Secondary School which acquired a certain “snob” value. Admission depended
upon the results of an entrance examination, a system which was new in Bahrain, and privilege
and position, money and birth, which in the past had counted for so much in the schools, were
no longer allowed to affect the opportunities for advanced education. Important fathers, who
themselves brought their sons to school were full of angry complaints if their sons were not
automatically accepted. Other changes which were introduced were improvements in the
village schools, which had been treated as “poor relations” of the town schools, the raising of
the school entrance age from 4 to 5 years to 6 to 7 years so that a school was no* longer regarded
as a creche where small children could be safely left out of harm’s way, enlistment of more
qualified foreign teachers and the weeding out of over-aged young men, who were often married,
who became almost permanent occupants in some of the classes. Systems of examinations and
promotions were tightened up so that promotion depended upon ability. Many of these
reforms were exceedingly unpopular among teachers, parents and students. Mr. Vallance left
in 1941 and was succeeded by Mr. Wakclin, of the British Council, who held the post until 1945.
1942. When the Secondary School was opened arrangements had been made to accom­
modate about a dozen boarders and meals were provided, on payment, for boys who came
from outlying villages and towns. This proved a popular arrangement and in 1942 a school
hostel, for boarders, was opened in a hired building which was made suitable for the purpose.
Among the boarders were boys from Kuwait who came to Bahrain to attend the Technical
School. During the war years development was restricted owing to the difficulties in obtaining
staff, school books and school supplies and building materials, to enable new schools to be
built, but the Government hired several houses and adapted them to the needs of the Education
Department. Another obstacle to progress was the shrinkage of boys between the ages of
12 to 15 who left school before completing their education and obtained well paid posts in
Bahrain and in neighbouring states.

1945. At the end of 1944 a number of boys and some school teachers were sent to Egypt
for advanced education and twelve Egyptians teachers were seconded by the Egyptian Ministry
of Education for service in Bahrain. When this arrangement was first introduced the Egyptian
teachers were paid by their own Government but latterly they were paid by the Bahrain author­
ities. In the following year more boys from the Secondary School were sent to Egypt and a
Bahrain hostel was opened for the students in Cairo. The boys, some of whom were sons of
wealthy parents, were in almost all cases paid for by the Government. The experiment was not
a success. Most of the boys failed in their examinations and several of them became obsessed
with political and semi-religious ideas and took an active part in political demonstrations. The
Egyptian experiment was abandoned, the boys were brought back to Bahrain and some were
sent by the Government, and some by their parents, to the American University of Beirut.
Several of the men who in later years took a prominent part in political disturbances in Bahrain
were among those who were sent to Cairo at this time.
The practice of sending boys to the American University of Beirut for higher education
began in 1929 when seven boys, chosen by one of the headmasters, with little consideration for
their scholastic merits, were sent to Beirut where they remained for two years. One or two of
these boys were successful in later life, the others were failures. Afterwards, the practice
lapsed until 1945 when three boys were sent to the Junior School of the University.
In the girls’ schools any advanced education abroad was more difficult to achieve. Not
many parents would allow their daughters to go to schools outside Bahrain, but in 1939 three
girls were sent to the British Syrian Training College in Beirut, which from experience in the
Bahrain schools has proved the best training centre in the Middle East for women teachers.
The education of boys abroad has not been an unqualified success. Boys of primary
school age who have spent some years at school m England have not easily readjusted them­
selves to home conditions on their return to Bahrain and though they acquire a good know­
ledge of English and a general education, their knowledge of Arabic—their own language—