Page 111 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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The Technical School.
{By Mr. G. E. Hutchings, Principal).

Students.
The number of students in training in the Technical School has varied only slightly since the
beginning of the re-organisation in 1360. During the greater part of 1362 the number remained
steadily at 55. When the scheme was first outlined four years ago a school of some 150 to 200 boys
was visualised, but wartime restrictions on building, equipment and staffing have precluded any such
expansion. Moreover, an increase in the number of pupils must depend to a great extent on the
expansion of the Primary Schools, and although these have in recent years greatly increased the
capacity of their junior classes they cannot immediately release a larger number of well qualified
boys of the age of 13 or 14.

The standard of education and .intelligence of boys applying for admission to the Technical
School shows gradual improvement each year. The improvement is particularly marked in the
case of a group of 21 younger boys, aged 13 to 14, admitted last summer, who now constitute
a new ' Preparatory Class.' It is intended that these younger pupils shall carry out a year of general
education and elementary workshop practice before entering upon the normal two-year course of trade
training. The good progress made by this class suggests that the lower age of admission and the
lengthening of the school course to 3 or 4 years should become the regular practice.
Popular prejudice tends to impede the recruitment of a satisfactory type of boy for technical
training, and this factor also must be reckoned with when the time comes to increase the size of the
school. The most able boys in the Primary Schools aim at professional, clerical, or business careers.
They regard'mechanical trades as the province of their social and intellectual inferiors. Certainly,
working-class life in Bahrain provides abundant evidence in support of this view, and there is nothing
to suggest that a youth who starts his career in a workshop will ever rise to a position of importance.
The facts are so well known to parents and teachers that propaganda in favour of technical education
would b2 quite futile.
At midsummer 5 students from the Mechanical and 4 from the Woodwork Departments, having
completed a full course at the School, entered apprenticeship with the Bahrain Petroleum Company.
A number of others have been accepted by the Company in various minor occupations. Abnormal
pressure of work in all the Company's Departments has not favoured the development of a satisfactory
apprentice training scheme linked with the work of the Technical School. At the present time ap­
prentices have only limited opportunities of gaining experience in the highly skilled tasks because
equipment and instructors cannot be spared for work which is not rapidly productive. The existence
of elaborate training schemes set up in connection with vital war industries in Britain and
America suggests that the Oil Industry has been unfortunate over this important factor in
its economy.

Four students holding scholarships from the Kuwait Oil Company left the school in June. A
fifth member of this group has returned for further study. As in previous years many of the boys
leaving the Technical School have entered employment which is not directly related to their school i
training. This is partly due to the arrest of local industrial development during the war. Certain
activities which have recently increased employment generally in Bahrain have not offered such scope
for trainees in skilled trades.

The majority of the Technical School pupils live in poor circumstances. Their condition is
somewhat relieved by the small maintenance allowance which it has been felt desirable to continue
and in addition a proportion of the boys have been given clothing. Boys whose homes are in the
distant villages and a few others (11 in all at the end of year) have resided in the Education Depart­
ment's Hostel, a very satisfactory arrangement pending the establishment of a boarding house on the
Technical School site. The discipline and welfare qf the boys in the School has become largely the
concern of one of the Syrian teachers, who is also responsible for organised games. The value of his
work is revealed in the pleasant atmosphere of the School and the confidence of the boys.