Page 143 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (I)_Neat

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caused a great deal of excitement. Public petitions were

organised, deputations called the Shaikh and schoolboys
broke into the Kuharrak school and destroyed a quantity
of furniture and fittings. The Xozaibis and others sug­

gested, as a threatjthat they would open a new school in
opposition to the Government schools,

i In ten days the schools were re-opened,at first the
attendance was small but v/ithin a month it reached the
normal number. Throughout the affair most of the parents
of the boys protested that they did not approve of their

sonsT behaviour but they were powerless to stop it or
tG send them back to school. It is an actual fact that

here in Bahrain, with a few exceptions, from the family
of the Ruling Family downwards, quite small boys are
absolutely independent of their fathers’ wishes.
Xewsnaner attacks. The departure of the two masters

was promptly followed by a series of abusive and anti-
English articles in Iraki, Persian and Syrian newspapers.
Their vituperation was mostly directed against the poli­

tical agent in Bahrain and the British policy in Bahrain.
The per reason for the masters dismissal was given as being
their refusal to make English the teaching language of the

schools, jealousy of the English at the success of the
Arab schools and the wish of the English to forbid the

teaching of religion, These, and other causes, all
of them equally untrue, were circulated by the masters who
remained in Bahrain. Shaikh Abdulla as President of
Education, published a brief notice in nAl-Iraqn aa^L contra­

dicting the newspaper statements and stating the reason
for the masters dismissal. Some articles were also pub­
lished giving a true account of the circumstances in

respectable newspapers.