'File 19/248 I (C 78) Education at Bahrain' [‎59r] (134/494)

During the next five days, I inspected the large town schools of
Manamah and Muharraq, the intermediate school at Hedd, and the four
village schools of Suq-al-Khamis, Eufa'a, Budaya, and Sitra. I also paid a
surprise visit to the Technical School at Manaraah.
The Technical School, for which there can be nothing but praise, is dis
cussed later in this Report. As to the other seven, I found that there were enor
mous differences in usefulness and efliciency between the individual schools.
Summing them up very briefly, I may say that the two most disappoint
ing were Budaya and Sitra, which are moribund and practically useless.
Rufa'a was a very bright spot, chiefly because the boys at that
school are healthy, and are therefore able to work properly, and because the
headmaster has the real schoolmaster spirit and has been able, in spite of all
his difficulties, to establish a proper school atmosphere in his tiny building.
Suq-al-Kbamis was well-conducted, and would have been another
bright spot, but for the low standard of health throughout the school, which
nullifies the best efforts of the headmaster and his assistants.
Hedd impressed me very much. Taking into account the many
obstacles with which the headmaster has to contend, I am inclined to
think that Hedd is the best of the seven schools.
Manamah and Muharraq are in a class by themselves, possessing all the
well-qualified teachers and a more advanced curriculum than the other schools.
But having said this much about the individual schools, let me hasten
to add that no blame for the sad state of affairs at Budaya and Sitra can
be apportioned to the headmasters of those schools, since they have never
received the slightest help, advice, or even encouragement, from the late
Inspector, from the headmasters of the town schools, or from anyone else * nor
can any praise be given to the superiority of Manamah and Muharraq
since that superiority has been achieved at the direct expense of the other
five schools of Bahrain. I shall refer to the callous neglect of these five
schools later in this Report.
My more immediate object is to examine the charge, which I under
stand is made by a certain section of the public, that Bahrain education is
inefficient. To some extent, I am afraid, that charge is true—employers of
Bahrain schoolboys would certainly subscribe to it : but it is too severe
for some of the schools are doing a great deal of good work. Perhaps
it would be more accurate to say that the Government schools of Bahrain
are far from being as efficient as they might be, and as they ought to be.
That, I think, is the true position.
Who is to blame for this state of affairs? Not the Government en
tirely, or even largely, for if public instruction is to be a success, there must
be close co-operation between all three partners in the venture, the Govern
ment, the executive, and the public, and in my opinion the Government
has fu ly played its part. We shall see how far the other two partners have
co-operated.
Apart from the question of ill-healtb, which is very fully discussed
later m this Report, there are, in my opinion, seven main causes contributing
towards the inefficiency of the schools o{ Bahrain, and I propose to examine
these one by one, suggesting a remedy for each.