Page 248 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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Wakf Departments.

Shia Wakf Department. Revenue Ra. 24,430.
The revenue increased by approximately Rs. .6,000. The total expenditure was
Rb. 22,000 of which one half was spent on Matems and about Rs. 6,000 on repairs
and upkeep of wakf house property, mosques, gardens and mats, lights and equipment
of mosqueB
During the year 900 new date trees were planted and much work was done
in wakf gardens after inspection by the committee.
Sunni Wakf Department. Revenue Rs. 24,860.
The Sunni Wakf Department consists of the Sunni Kadis and clercial staff.
There is no wakf committee. Two-thirds of the revenue is from house property in
Manama and Muharraq and the reminder from gardens. Most of the wakf inoome
is paid to the persons officiating in the mosques. Very little was spent on upkeep of
wakf property or purchasing new property.

Education.

School Reforme and appointment of Director of Education. Important changes
were made in the Education Department during the year 1358. In the first month
of the year the Inspector of Schools, Mr. Faik Adham, tendered his resignation,
which was accepted, and he and his wife, who was the head-mistress of Manama
Girls School, left Bahrain. For the remaining three months of the school term no
Inspector was appointed.
A short time before the end of the term the Bahrain Government arranged
for Mr. C.R.L. Adrian-Yallanoe, of the Iraq Government Education Department,
to visit Bahrain in order to report on the 6tate of Education and to make suggestions
for improving the schools.
Mr. Adrian-Vallance produced a valuable and comprehensive report in which
he described the state of schools as he found them and made detailed suggestions
for their improvement. He found one outstanding feature, the comparative neglect
of village schools in comparison to the big schools in Manama and Muharraq.
Among the reasons for lack of scholastic • efficiency he mentioned bad health,
especially eyesight, irregular attendance, premature leaving, overcrowded classes,
lack of modern methods of teaching, and absence of sound grounding.
His suggestions for improvements included a scheme for dividing the
educational life of a boy. into three stages, infant stage, intermediate stage and final
stage, entailing separate infant schools in Manama and Muharraq and a new final
school open only to bright boys who qualify by examination and who, unless given a
scholarship, pay school fees.

This scheme has been approved and will be adopted at the beginning of the
1359 new school term. It means that a dull boy would not attend school for more
than 4 years (age 6-10) and an intellegent boy would be able to leave when he is 15
years old, after being at school for nine years having learned all that the schools can
teach him.
In November Mr. Adrian-Vallance was appointed, through the British
Council, which pays the greater part of his salary, as Director of Education to the
Bahrain Government. Mr. Adrian-Vallance took over the administration of the
sohool and began to make various improvements, especially in the country schools,
but important changes, such as separating infanta and primary students in different
buildings, are deferred until the next school term.