Page 317 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

influence in these schools ; they usually occupy the back of a shop in a noisy bazaar, or an chiply motor
garage or a corner in the courtyard of a house. The children squat on the ground with their Korans
before them on rough wooden stands. They arc noisy institutions and one can hear the shrill voices
of the children from the other end of the street.
"Besides Slate schools and Quran schools there arc a few private schools in Bahrain. The
Bahrain Petroleum Company maintains a schoo 1 for its Arab employees who undergo there a short
course of instruction in which stress is given to learning English. The mission of the Dutch Reformed
Church of America, long established in the country, has a small school for girls which was started many
years ago. There is also a private school in Manamah which is attended mainly by Persians.
"Bahrain has made more steady progress in education than the neighbouring states. This
is to a great extent due to the interest which the present ruler, and his father before him, have taken
in the education of their people. Another contributory factor is that Bahrain is not a Slate which
got rich quickly. Even before oil was discovered in the country Bahrain was a prosperous place
and after oil was found the revenue increased gradually so that the State was able to develop in
its own time on its own lines.”
Town, Primary and Infant Schools.—Last year an experiment was made by separating the
youngest children in the Muharraq School and placing them in a separate infants’ school. This
arrangement worked well and during the year under review the same course was adopted in Manamah.
The Muharraq School, which has the largest attendance of all Government schools, was overcrowded
during the year but the situation will improve when the new school on the Muharraq Sea-front is
opened. Out of 83 boys who obtained primary school leaving certificates, 36 were from Muharraq
school.
Village Schools.—About one-third of the total population live in the villages. At one time
the proportion of villages was larger, it has decreased, not because there arc fewer people in the villages,
but because the population of Manamah, and to a less extent Muharraq, has become so much greater
during recent years. During the last year or two the village people who arc mostly Shias have become
vociferous in their demands for schools. To some extent this demand can be traced to a feeling that
more is being done in places where Sunni Arabs live than for Shia villages. Two new village schools
were opened during the year, two more schools will be opened next year. Schools in distant isolated
villages add to the difficulties of transport. No teachers will live in the villages and daily transport
to and from villages which may be 15 miles from Manamah is difficult to arrange. Local buses serve
most of the villages but they work to no fixed schedule and are unreliable.
Health.—Owing to shortage of medical staff no special school clinics were started during the
year. The health of the boys, however, was satisfactory. All school children, including those from
the villages, looked healthy, cheerful and clean.
General.—In April a party of 51 teachers and school-boys from Kuwait paid a visit to Bahrain
where they stayed for about a week. During the visit they played various matches with teams from
the Bahrain schools, they enjoyed a certain advantage as 19 of the party were teachers who took a
prominent part in the games. In the same month the Boys’ School Sports Meeting was held in
Muharraq, many hundreds of school-boys took part in it and their smartness and skill reflected much
credit on the senior athletic master, a local Arab from Hedd.
In the summer Mr. Ahmed A1 Omran, Director of Education, visited the United Kingdom,
under the auspices of the British Council who arranged for him to visit various schools and universities.
During his stay in England he gave several talks at the educational centres and on the B.B.C., dealing
with topics of interest to the Arab world.
Finance.—The total expenditure on Boys’ education during 1370, excluding the upkeep of
buildings and technical education, was Rs. 2oJ lakhs, approximately £155,000. Of this sum Rs. 12,39.000
was recurrent expenditure on salaries, books and equipment, transport, higher education abroad,
etc.; Rs. 8,35.000 was spent during the year on new buildings and on addition to existing buildings.
The cost of each student in a Government boys’ school is approximately Rs. 500 per annum.