'File 19/248 I (C 78) Education at Bahrain' [‎70r] (156/494)

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sick children " sent to the nearest government clinic " ? Do they, in their
sick condition, walk the many miles which lie between their villages and
the nearest clinic, or are vehicles provided ? And by whom are the sick
children ''sent" ? Certainly not by the schoolmasters, on their own show
ing ; nor by the parents, whom the same report describes as being " very
apathetic towards illness." And how can children be "sent" at all, if
they are really ill ? And finally, are the government clinics equipped in
such a way as to be able to provide treatment for "any condition "? I think
that an investigation would show that the sentence which I have quoted is
absolutely incorrect. In my opinion, there is no official care at all of the
health of schoolchildren in Bahrain.
Who is to blame for this state of affairs, and what is the remedy for it?
We cannot blame the Government, except perhaps indirectly, through the
officials to whom it has entrusted the conduct of education. The Grovern-
ment cannot be expected to devote its time to the supervision of the school-
children's health. It has provided certain health facilities, notably the
local dispenparies, and it was for the school authorities to take the fullest
advantage of them. As a first step towards this ihey should have instituted
definite health instruction amongst the children, and definite health pro
paganda amongst the parents. And they ought in those districts where
there are local dispensaries to have created liaisons between dispensary and
school. It is no valid excuse for a schoolmaster to plead that parents
are ignorant and that children are afraid of doctors. What is a school for,
if not to remove, by education, ignorance and superstition ? How can a
man call himself an efficient educator and at the same time ignore the fact
that education is dependent upon health ? It is not by mere chance that the
best schools in Bahrain are those which are situated in the healthier dis
tricts : there is a relationship which every schoolmaster must be fully aware
of. There is no doubt whatever that the late Inspector and the staffs of the
schools are very largely responsible for the wretched state of affairs which I
have described.
As to remedy, I am afraid I have not much faith in "weekly inspections"
of the schools by a doctor. They will be of little value, in practice ; for the
more distant schools are sure to be neglected, like the more distant fields of
any farm, and once again Manamah and Muharraq will get most of the
attention. In any case, the inspecting doctor, when he arrives at the
schools, will be welcomed only by the healthy, or the fairly healthy, since the
really sick will all be at home in bed. And even if it were arranged that he
should attend them in their homes, it would hardly be reasonable to expect
sick children to wait five or six days for the weekly visit of the doctor.
In my opinion, the problem of school health in Bahrain will never be
satisfactorily solved until the Government decides to appoint a regular, full-
time, European doctor—preferably a woman—with Eastern experience and
with special qualifications in the treatment of diseases of the eye, one whose
sole occupation would be work amongst children, and not only amongst those
children who attend bchool, for many juvenile diseases are highly infectious,
and we shall not be safeguarding the health of our schoolchildren if at the
same time we are neglecting the health of their non-attending companions.
Such a doctor as I have described would be able to work out her own
scheme for the care of the health of the children of Bahrain—the men and
women of tomorrow. I have seen the splendid State Hospital which
the Government is erecting at Manamah. It is a venture which would do
credit to any State. But one of the cardinal rules of medicine is early
treatment, and it seems to me to be illogical and inconsistent for the