Page 266 - Bahrain Gov annual reports(V)_Neat

32

During this period no new schools were opened; but various classrooms were added to
the already existing buildings. In Khamis, for instance, four new classrooms were built, also
in Jidhafs, and in Aali. The new schools at Hidd and Samahij were not completed by the
beginning of the school term (October 1955).

In Manama town alone there was a waiting list of approximately 1,100 boys. There is
always doubt in this respect as to whether the boys awaiting admittance have actually reached
the age of 6, which is the age at which boys arc admitted to school.

The Secondary School fortunately could accommodate the 173 new entrants, without need
of the new extension which is already under construction.

Staff. Ever)' year, as the expansion in education takes place, there is an increase in the
number of teachers recruited locally and from abroad. The local supply is still falling short of
meeting the demand in spite of all possible endeavours which are made to increase the number.
During the last Summer vacation the Director of Education, with the assistance of the British
Council in Beirut, enlisted 23 Lebanese, Jordanian and Palestinian teachers. The Government
of Egypt continued to render assistance by seconding a certain number of trained masters to
fill vacancies in the Secondary School and in the Teachers Training Section.

Teachers Training Course. At the end of the 1954-55 school year 11 students graduated
from the Teachers Training Class for Secondary School students. Evening classes for teachers
already in service, but without special training qualifications, were again held. In August, 1955,
the Director of Education attended for the second time a conference held at the University
of Beirut, with the object of surveying and recommending the most suitable methods and
spheres of an Educational philosophy in the developing Arab States. The lecturers again
stressed the great need for trained and qualified teachers on a large scale in the Arab World;
especially at this juncture of its transitory stage.

During the term 1955-56 a new stream of training for Primary School future teachers was
started in the Secondary School; with the intention that students following this branch should
graduate from the school with two years teachers’ training in addition to the usual prescribed
course.

Higher Education. 6 more boys who passed out of the Secondary School at the end of
the 1955 school year were sent to the Beirut American University for higher education.

Again a number of Bahraini boys were sent abroad for Higher Education at the expense
of their parents. Most of them went to Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and a few to England or India.

Secondary School. The school is expanding at a very rapid rate, on account of the large
number of pupils graduating from the top forms of the Primary Schools every year, and because
the age factor in Bahrain schools is generally getting lower and lower, down to its normal level
on the education ladder. Boys who arc too young to obtain jobs seek admission into
the Secondary, Technical or similar schools.
At the commencement of the 1955-56 school year the number in the Secondary School
reached 412, showing an increase of approximately 33 per cent over the previous term.

A new extension of 6 classrooms is being built.

The Teachers Training Course for Secondary School students has been embodied and
synchronised with the general school programme; on similar lines to that of the Commercial
Course—thus adding a new stream to the two already existing streams of the Secondary
School system.