Page 428 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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There was an increase in the number of pupils and teachers during 1366 ; at the beginning of
the 1366 school year, in September 1947, there were 2084 boys attending the Kindergarten and primary
schools and the secondary school. This was an increase of 334 over the numbers at the end of the
previous term. Several hundreds of boys who applied for admission at the beginning of the term
had to be turned away owing to lack of space and lack of teachers. Applicants were put on a waiting
list to be accepted at the beginning of the next term.

A new Kindergarten school was opened in Muharraq in a house in the centre of the
town, opposite His Highness Shaikh Sulman’s town house, which was bought by the Government
from Shaikh Daij bin Hamad. The building, when renovated, provided four light airy class rooms,
a staff room and a large playground. In Manama two additional class rooms were added to the
West School which accommodate 50 more boys.

The usual problem was experienced in the schools by the large increase in the number of small
boys in the Kindergarten classes and in the lower primary classes without a corresponding increase
in the higher classes, the reason for this being that many boys continued to leave school from the higher
classes before completing their education, having acquired sufficient English to enable them to obtain
paid work outside. It does not follow that if more boys were admitted to the junior classes there would
be a similar increase in the higher classes. There are now only two private boys’ schools in Bahrain,
the Catholic school and the Persian school. A few years ago there were four private schools. More
schools of .this type would do something towards meeting the increasing demand for primary education.

Staff.—The Egyptian teachers continued to work in the Secondary school and in the upper
classes of the town Primary schools. The senior men among them, who have been some years in
Bahrain, have adapted themselves fairly successfully to local conditions and to the local point of view.
During the summer vacation seven new Syrian teachers were recruited in Damascus by the Acting
Director of Education, through the Syrian Ministry of Education. The Syrian Government gave
valuable help to the Director of Education during his search for suitable men. For many reasons
it Would be more satisfactory in future if teachers could be enlisted from Syria instead of from Egypt
but at the present time no highly qualified teachers can be spared from Syria, in that country too,
Egyptian teachers are being employed in many of the senior posts. The new teachers were posted
to the Primary schools and one Indian science master was'engaged to teach in the Secondary school.
The Bahraini teachers, though some of them have a rather limited outlook, show very keen interest in
their work and produce good results.

It is the policy of the Bahrain Government to employ as much as possible Bahrain subjects
but there are not yet sufficient fully trained men available, who wish to become teachers, to fill all
the higher teaching posts. The employment of foreigners in the schools, especially those with strong
political views, is undesirable but for the time being it is not possible to get along without them.
The practice of boys leaving school before finishing their education, which is likely to continue as long
as they can find employment, is one of the reasons for the shortage of competent local teachers. To
remedy this state of affairs the Education Department embarked upon a new scheme at the beginning
of the 1366 school term. Nine boys from the upper classes of the Secondary school, members of well
known families in Bahrain, with good scholastic and conduct records, aged between 17 and 18, were
chosen as future school teachers. They and their parents signed an undertaking that they would
complete a two years course in teaching and would then take posts in the Government schools, The
boys were given special quarters in the school hostel and attended special classes under the tuition
of the best teachers on the staff of the Education Department. If it is found that this experiment
is a success the number of teacher students can be increased next term and a valuable nucleus of
local school teachers will be formed which could eventually fill all the school posts.

If the records, taken over many years, of boys and young men who have been sent from Bahrain
to be educated in other countries in the Middle East, are examined, it is only too evident that in most
cases the results have been unsatisfactory both morally and politically, though the failures are apt to
become lost sight of against the few outstanding successes. The best results which were obtained