'File 53/89 II (D 169) Kuwait Education' [‎217r] (445/521)

REPORT ON JlPUO .riQN IN KU/AIT BY WAICiilLIN,
EDliOATlglCLL ADVISER *
( 3RD — 12TH MiliiOH. 1945 )
It is unfortun te that this my first visit of the year to
the Amirateof Kuwait should have been so long delayed and then
have coincided with Shaikh Abdullah Jabir’s absence in India.
It is to be hoped however that I shall have the opportunity of
meeting him in Bahrain on his return to Bahrain.
(a) INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS .
I made an inspection of all the tovjn schools in t-he eeK
before the examinations began. I was unable to go out to the
villages but I have discussed their problems with the Committee.
The main changes since my last visit are the addition of
a third year to the Secondary School and the separation of the
infant classes from the kubarakia School. The establishment of an
Infant School is a most important advance. Children straign
from home require the individual care and attention of
specialised teachers. Under the old system the little ones were
left to the mercy of whatever teachers could be spared irom ohe
primary classes most of whom were raw beginnersor old men of
the & : ulla type. In this new school the best of i>he Kuwait
SloS, oqal m.tlj. «
particularly suited for such work. It is in ^.^^efore of
that the foundations of education a r. laid. Wi. therefor, or
great importance that as soon as possible uhe infant classes of
the other three schools be housed in separate buildings.
Little Improvement has yet been made in the teaching of
Ar^tbrnp-tlo owin^ to the lack of trained teachers ana the
scarcity of books. At least two Mathe ?f tios ,
be enaased for the next school year. Then with the arrival
the necessary books which are now on order from Jigypt bhere
should be a rapid advance.
Looking back over the past two years one sees a
considerable improvement in the standard of nglish out aere
a^ain much remains to be done before the situation can be
regarded as satisfactory. Among the Egyptians there is only
one whose Enplish is even moderately good, lie has done much
present Shis -e^eV^s^ afUleted their
f^ ^rth^e-opening
0 J e :S rk de^nf So^yoMtiVwSrK fSdgrp mglish and
great demand i y ithmetic# unless the schools can provide
Will MV. «o .l..«fc.r. lor -ploy....
, *
1 Sat^bp* thorourhly grounded in his own language. Reports on
h^StudSln/in Egypt Indicate that the Arabic language is
?aLSS in the soh^ls of Kuwait. There is however one
well taught i deplored. In most of the schools
SiTwK is SL^t Siinmphasis on speed rather than on
Arabic Reading ^ teachers regularly spend hours
““Stw SSoSI'at SaS sSeSd pacing no heed to punctuation or
learn tS rlaA words from a book is a very
diff^SIt thing from being able to absorb what is written
therein.
The/