Page 431 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (III)_Neat

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have been from boys who were sent to be educated abroad when they were quite young. Although
the system of sending boys from Bahrain Primary schools, to schools abroad has not worked well
yet better results might be got if a few young men, such as those who are to be trained as teachers,
were sent to England, not to Egypt or Syria, to take a course in teaching, after they had completed
their education in Bahrain and had reached a standard where they could assimilate instruction given
to them in the English language.
Higher Education Abroad.—One of the three Bahrain students who were being educated
at Government expense at the Junior school of the Beirut University had to be sent back to Bahrain
at the request of the University authorities He and several more of the boys who were for a year at
school in Cairo became attracted by one of the new semi-political semi-religious movements in Egypt
which gave them a disinclination for, among other things, education. Shaikh Hamad bin Mohammed,
who was for some years at the Beirut University, where he was sent by the Bahrain Government,
completed the course of study in the sophomore and it was arranged that he should enter Stanford
University, California, with the view of pursuing a graduate course. Attempts to obtain an entry for
him into a University in England had been unsuccessful. Yusuf Shirawi, who held a British Council
scholarship at Beirut forfeited the scholarship owing to failing in an examination and returned to
Bahrain with the intention of rejoining the University in 1948.
Secondary School.—At the beginning of the new school year the number of boys at the
Secondary school was 88, which was 30 more than in the previous year. Mr. Husain Qubahi, who had
been the headmaster of the Muharraq Primary school, was appointed headmaster of the Secondary
school. The school was divided into four classes, but the top class contained only about half a dozen
boys. The standard of the school was on a level with the standard of other Secondary schools in the
Middle East.
School Hostel.—Throughout the term there were 35 full time boarders at the hostel of whom
15 attended the Secondary school, 8 worked at the Technical school and 12 were from the villages.
Most of the village boys held scholarships from the Government which consisted of free food and
lodging in the school hostel. In addition to the boarders 13 men and women teachers, who lived
outside Manama but taught in the Manama schools, were provided with a mid-day meal at the school.
Special arrangements were made for a room for the lady teachers, separated from the men teachers.
The hostel was also used for cinema shows and school entertainments.

Primary and Village Schools.—The four primary schools functioned satisfactorily during
the year, two of them were under the charge of Bahraini headmasters. The Muharraq Kindergarten
school, which was opened during the first month of the present school year, is something of an experi­
ment. Until now there have been Kindergarten classes in some of the schools but never a separate
Kindergarten school. The .advantages of separate schools for small children are obvious. The
Kindergarten school is intended to teach children until they are about nine years old when they will
enter a Primary school. The question of opening a similar school in Manama is under consideration.
The allocation to the Education Department of two Humber Station Waggons contributed towards ;
the smoother running of the village schools whose staff has to be transported to and from Manama.
It is still not possible to obtain any senior teachers from the villages. Young men from the villages
who have been educated at the Government schools usually go to work in the Bahrain Petroleum !.
Company, or elsewhere, which they find more attractive than teaching in the village schools. Probably
the only subject in which the village schools excel over the larger classes in the town schools is the
study of the Koran.

Medical.—Special clinics for schools could not be arranged owing to lack of medical staff,
but in Hedd one of the Government doctors paid visits to the school twice a week and regular clinics
were held at Sitra, close to the school, which school children could attend. In Manama and
Muharraq boys who required medical attention were sent to the hospital or to the clinic. The boys !
in the school hostel were thoroughly overhauled during the year and a number of them
attended hospital regularly for special treatment, usually for diseases of the eyes.