Page 314 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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Apart from school work various extra-mural activities were developed among the boys.
There were school plays in which the boys displayed a complete lack of shyness and in some eases
real dramatic aptitude, sports, football matches, debates, camps and visits to places of interest in
Bahrain such as the oil fields. During this and the following year parlies of School boys from
Kuwait paid visits to Bahrain as the guests of the Bahrain schools.
The amount spent upon the boys’ schools in 1363 was Rs. 2,10,000 and the annual cost per boy
was Rs. 142 compared to Rs. 106 in the previous year.
Bahrain Boys in Cairo.—At the end of the 1363-4 term, (June 1945) Mr. Wakelin completed
his four years in Bahrain and returned to his work with the British Council in Cairo. He was suc­
ceeded by Mr. Willy, another British Council official, who left Bahrain after a very short stay owing
to ill-health. During the following tenr., from October 1945 till June 1946 there was no British Director
of Education. Mr. Ahmed A1 Omran, a Bahrain Arab, was appointed Acting Director pf Education;
he had been educated at Muharraq school, at Beyrout University and at Isfahan. After 12 years
service in the Bahrain Government he held the post of Secretary to the Muharraq Municipal Council.
At the end of the term he went on leave to Cairo and from thence to England where under the auspices
of the British Council he was shown as much as possible of English educational methods.
During 1364 (1945) another 16 boys from the Secondary School were sent to study in Cairo
bringing the number there up to 24. Sending these boys to Cairo was something of an experiment,
in the past Bahrain boys requiring higher education had gone to Beyrout with, on the whole, fairly
successful results. The decision to send boys to Cairo was partly due to the fact that delegations of
schoolboys from Saudi Arabia and from Kuwait had been sent to study in Egypt. With the assistance
of the British Council a Bahrain Hostel was opened to accommodate the students, some of the boys
attended a Technical school and the others were students in Secondary schools.

The result of this exodus reduced the number of boys in the Bahrain Secondary School to 10
when 28 new boys entered from the primary schools the average age was reduced to 13-14 years
instead of expanding the school was reduced from three classes to two classes.
The cost to the Government of paying for a boy in Cairo was about £400 per annum. Eight
of the parents agreed to contribute £50 per annum for their boys’ education, two paid £25 and the
remainder paid nothing.
•x. kefpnnjng *365 (I94^1) two of the boys returned from Cairo having become obsessed
am a • sem'"re^g>ous movement in Egypt which thereafter gained some slight
ground in Bahrain Both boys belonged to weU-known families. The disturbed political situation
■Ra^ W Cre SC °° b°ys a prominent part in political disorders caused the authorities in
t. Ta' T: SOmC the parents* much uneasiness- Not all of the boys did weU at their work and
F "d tS Sh°WCd that k W3S a Waste of moncy kcePin6 some of the boys at school in
v x- 6n 6 !lrae came *or renewing the lease of the hostel for another year it was decided that
in Cairo^they shou^bc^d^ate^n't'hcir'1" ^ ** inSt<!ad °' Se"din8 ^ ‘° SCC°ndary Sd,00lS
own country unless they showed exceptional ability and
promise in which case they might be sent to Beyrout. Some of the boys who were quite hopeless
left Egypt at the end of the school term, the remainder, who had failed in the end-of-term examina­
tions were allowed to remain at the hostel, having special lessons, until September when they could
sit again for the examinations and three boys, who had done well during the term and in their examina­
tions, were sent to Beyrout in October. Other boys from the Cairo group were also sent to Beyrout
at their parents' expense.

During the 1364-5 term all the schools were full but everywhere the average age was lower
than in past years. There was an all-round improvement in health which was perhaps more obvious
in the village schools than in the towns, this was partly due to the free issue of a ration of bread to
village schoolboys which has been started during the war years. Free hair-cutting and an issue of
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soap in these schools contributed towards increased cleanliness.

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