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'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937' [24v] (48/86)
The record is made up of 1 volume (43 folios). It was created in 1937. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
EDUCATION
Formation of an The progress of education during the last ten years has not been altogether
Education Committee, smooth, but the origin of some of the troubles which have occur red
dates back to the time when schools were first started in Bahrain. In
1919 Shaikh Abdullah bin Isa returned from his first visit to England filled with enthusiasm for
education. Bahrain was in a prosperous condition, as the pearl market was flourishing, and when
the public were asked to subscribe to a fund for starting schools they responded generously, and
over three
lacs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
were collected. An education committee was formed under the
presidency
The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent.
of
Shaikh Abdullah, whose members were local merchants chosen rather on account of their wealth
than their learning, many of them being entirely illiterate. Haji Yusuf Fakroo, a Persian merchant
of Muharraq, was appointed as treasurer, and very soon acquired almost complete control ot
finance and administration.
Muharraq School The committee decided to build a large school beyond the northern edge
of Muharraq town; it was unfortunate that a site in a more central position
was not chosen for the school. The cost of building the school was said
to have been about two
lacs
One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
, but this sum included the cost of a quantity of material which was
ordered by the treasurer from India and which did not arrive in Bahrain. To-day the school could
be built for less than a quarter of this sum and, even taking into consideration the decrease m the
price of building, the amount which was alleged to have been spent upon building the school
was incredibly large. For many years much publicity was given in Syrian and Egyptian newspapers,
which have always taken an impertinent interest in Bahrain educational affairs, to what was
described as a case of gross mismanagement of public money. The school was opened with a
teaching staff which included several highly paid Egyptian and Syrian masters. Shaikh 1 a z
Wahba' who is now the representative of His Majesty King Ibn Saoud at the Court ot St. James,
was for some time the headmaster of the Muharraq school. A second school was opened in
Manamah in a house in the centre of the town, which is now the Manamah girls school.
Education. For some years after the beginning of the period which is dealt with in
this report the two schools were nominally under the management of
the committee, but in fact they were run by the treasurer and the Syrian headmastei ot the Muharraq
school. Educational results were disappointing: boys who were two years at school were unable
to read and write, and most of the boys who left the school after learning for several years were
incapable of filling the simplest posts in the Government offices. Though attention was given
to teaching the sons of important people, most of the boys received a very scrappy education.
The examinations, which were held in public at the end of each term, were entirely unreliable
tests of education. The boys' fathers attended these examinations, and when the boys gave wrong
answers the parents usually applauded, and it was considered inadvisable to correct the bo^s in
front of their fathers, who were equally ignorant.
The members of the committee took little interest in anything except the financial advancement
of their relations and friends, who were appointed as teachers. One of the headmasters ot Muharraq
introduced a number of his own relations, and the pay of the teachers depended not upon their
ability but upon their friendship with the headmaster and the committee. In general, nepotism
flourished to an extraordinary degree.
At that time it was impolitic to question the administration of the schools. The amount paid
by the Government on account of education during 1344 (1925-1926) was Rs 48,000/-; in the
following year only Rs 20,000/- was spent, but in 1346 (1927-28) the annual grant towards education
was raised to Rs 46,000/-. It was during this year that the Honorable the
Political Resident
A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency.
, then
Colonel Haworth, pointed out to the Bahrain Government that, in comparison to the revenue,
the annual expenditure on education was very small. 'Education,' he wrote, 'is the dominant factor
in Bahrain.' A small school was opened in Rafaa and another school in Hedd.
Taffarieh In 1347 (1928-29) the expenditure on education was increased to Rs 57,000/-,
School. but in addition to the Rs 32,000/- which was paid to the treasurer of the
education committee, this sum included the cost of building the first
four classrooms of the new school in Manamah which was intended for Shias. Out of the Rs 13,000/-
About this item
- Content
This volume is an administration report covering the years 1926 to 1937 (though in some subjects the report goes further back than 1926) and deals mainly with the activities of the Bahrain Government. It includes text, photographic images, graphs and tables. The report was based on annual reports of the financial and government departments which are made every year. A contents page can be found on folio 3, followed by a General Review by Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, dated December 1937 (folio 4).
The contents are divided into the following sections and sub-sections:
- Finance (folio 5): Revenue;
- The State Police and Public Security (folios 5v-10v): The Levy Corps, Political Disturbances, Attempt to assassinate the Shaikh, Indian Levy Corps, Crime and Prostitution, Drugs and Liquor, The State Jail, The Present Police Force, Administration and Routine, Changing Nature of Duties, Recent Innovations, Police Band, Camel Section, Shooting, Uniforms, Police Training in India, and The Naturs;
- Customs Department and Revenue (folios 10v-13v): Organisation and Establishment, Revenue (Customs Duty, Import Yard charges, Khanchieh, Porterage, Pier Fees, Landing Company, Mainland Cargo, Optional Cargo System, Transhipment Cargo), Transit Cargo, Export Dues, Boat-Building, Customs Improvements, Steamship Lines, and Future Improvements;
- Judicial (folios 13v-19v): Institution of Courts, The Bahrain Court (Criminal Cases, Civil Cases, Diving Cases, Land Cases, Fish-Trap Cases), The Bahrain Small Court, Shera [Sharia] Court (Sunni and Shia), The Mejlis Tajara [Majlis Tijārah] and Diving Court, Small Mixed Court, Laws and Codes, Police Regulations, and Judicial Legislation (Diving Regulations, Wakils Elected representative or attorney, acting in legal matters such as contracting marriage, inheritance, or business; a high-ranking legal official; could also refer to a custodian or administrator. , Mortgages, Appeals, Statute of Limitations, Liability of Government Servants);
- Public Works (folios 19v-23v): Roads, Buildings (Suk al-Khamis [Sūq al-Khamīs] Mosque, Idari Water Channel and Mosque, Manamah School and Workshop, Barracks, Police Station, New Customs House, Shops, Palace Wall, Law Courts, Bazaar Buildings, Jufair Naval Base, and Manamah-Muharraq Road;
- Land Registration (folios 23v-24v): Survey, Reports on Land Cases, Registration of Sales and Titles, Mortgages, Government Title Deeds, Fish-Traps, and Leases and Government Forms;
- Education (folios 24v-27v): Formation of an Education Committee, Muharraq School Built, Jaffarieh [al-Ja‘farīyah] School, Opening of a Girls' School, Appointment of a School Inspector, Strike of Students and Masters, Reforms in the Schools, Disappearance of School Committees, Amalgamation of Manamah Boys' Schools, Technical Education, Bahrain Boys at Beyrout University [American University of Beirut], Education of the Ruling Family, and Future Development of Education;
- Electric Department (folios 27v-29r): Original Installation, Muharraq Extension, Share of Municipalities, Progress, State Engineer, Progress, First Profitable Year, Future Prospects, Telephone System, and Summary of Seven Years' Working;
- Agriculture (folios 29r-31v): Land Tenure, Date Cultivation, Lucerne, Cereals, Cotton, Tobacco, Fruit Trees, and Vegetables.
- Wakf [Waqf] Administration (ff. 31v-35r): Nature of Wakfs, Shaikh Khalaf, Syed Adnan's Administration, Appointment of a Council, Previous attempts to organise Wakf Department, Progress of Administration and Elections, Results, Future Development, and Sunni Wakf Administration;
- Passport Department (folio 35r);
- Municipalities (folios 35r-38r): Constitution and History (Manamah and Muharraq), Municipal Finance, Municipal Taxation, Municipal Achievement, Roads, Manamah (Conservancy, Sanitation, Water Supply, Malaria, Fire Precautions, Markets and Food Regulations, Public Health Measures, Gardens, Cemeteries), and Muharraq Municipality;
- The Pearl-Diving Industry (folios 38r-40v): General, The Diving System, The Reforms, Demonstrations by Divers, The Slump, Diving Mortgages, Divers' Debts, Transfer of Divers, The Catch, and Recent Changes;
- Social and Political Developments (folios 41r-42v): Arabs and Baharna, The Baharna, The Townsfolk, Houses, Games, Class Changes, The Ruling Family, and The Women.
Photographic images appear on eleven folios, and they are labelled as follows:
- Folio 7: 'Sooq Al Khamis Mosque' and 'A Village Dispensary';
- Folio 11: 'An Artesian Well (Showing head of water)' and 'A Natural Spring (Adari [‘Adhārī])';
- Folio 14: 'Meat Market', 'Slaughter House', and 'Metal Vegetable Market (Under Construction)';
- Folio 15: 'Modern Village in Manamah', 'A Street in Manamah', and 'Municipal Garden, Manamah';
- Folio 16: 'A Small Pearling Dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. ';
- Folio 21: 'New Customs House and Round-about', 'Government Shops', and 'Women's Dispensary';
- Folio 22: 'The Palace Manamah', 'Manamah Muharraq Sea Road', and 'The Road (From the Sea)';
- Folio 25: 'Manamah Boys' School', 'School Workshops', and 'A Village School';
- Folio 30: 'A road in Manamah' and 'Street in Muharraq';
- Folio 32: 'A Policeman' and 'Police on Parade';
- Folio 33: 'Buildings Constructed by Bahrain Government at Naval Base, Jufair [al-Jufayr]', 'Clerk in Charge's House', 'Canteen', and 'Officer's Building'.
Folio 17 is a graph entitled 'A decade of Customs Progress'. A note on the title page reads 'Property of H.B.M. Embassy Bahrain' (folio 2r) and the back cover includes a label that reads: 'Printed at the Dolphin Press, Brighton, England' (folio 43v).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (43 folios)
- Arrangement
This file contains a page of contents (folio 3) which references pages of the report.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: Folios 1-43.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/750/1
- Title
- 'Government of Bahrain Administrative Report for the Years 1926-1937'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:42v, back-i, back
- Author
- Belgrave, Sir Charles Dalrymple
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact copyright@bl.uk with any information you have regarding this item.