"(ملف 19/248 I (C 78 التعليم في البحرين" [و‎‎٩‎٦] (٤٩٤/٢٠٨)

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The next point is with regard to Salaries. Earlier in this Report I
have alluded to the great discrepancifs with exist between the salaries paid
to the Syrian teachers, and those paid to the local men. In my opinion,
there is no justification for this state of affairs: and it has undoubtedly
contributed towards the feeling of inferiority amongst the Bahraini
teachers. I am not forgetting that the Syrian teachers are holders of
universit) 7 degrees, and that the Bahrainis are not : but teaching ability
does not depend upon the possession of a university degree. A Bahraini
who has never been out of the Island may be just as good n. teacher, and
therefore just as useful a public servant, as a foreigner who has obtained
academic qualifications at two universities. I do not suggest that the salaries
of the Syrian teachers should be lowered—thpy are not very high, compared
with those paid in neighbouring states - or that the salaries of the Bahrainis
should be raised to exactly the same level as those of the Syrians. The
Syrians have certain expenses to meet which do not apply to local men :
they have to travel, and their boarding expenses in Bahrain must of
necessity be higher than those of the teachers who are living in their own
homes. What I do suggest to your Highness is that the salaries of the local
men should be brought appreciably nearer to those of the foreign teachers,
not only from the point of view of justice, but also in the interests of a
proper feeling of national pride on the part of the Bahrainis.
Furthermore, it is highly desirable that the Education Department,
with the assistance of the Inspector, should draw up a regular fixed scale
of salaries for all the schools in Bahrain. The present state of affairs as
regards salaries, as far as I was able to understand it, is a completely
chaotic one, and one which is full of anomalies and injustices. It is not
for me to suggest what salaries should be paid to individual teachers, but
the common practice of most professions seems to demand that to
some extent they should be proportionate to length of service, and to
degree of responsibility carried. It ought to go without saying that
headmasters, for example, should receive more than assistant masters, yet
a glance at the salary-list will show that this is far from being the practice
in Bahrain. I strongly advise your Highness to have a regular and
equitable scale of salaries for teachers drawn up and instituted at an early date.
In addition to, and quite apart from, the smaller question of the
anomalies which exist between the salaries of Bahrainis and Syrians,
between headmasters and assistant masters, and between public servants
of long standing and those who are just beginning their public service,
the whole question of the adequacy or otherwise of teachers' salaries in
Bahrain ought to be looked into. The salaries paid to teachers in Bahrain
are very low, and the question arises as to whether we shall ever be able
to achieve the maximum improvement in Bahrain education unless we
decide to raise the whole standard and prestige of the teaching profession
in the Island, by improving upon the present basis of payment. Earlier
in this Report I have suggested a scheme under which, in a few years'
time, the teaching staffs of the Bahrain schools will have become a
hundred per cent Bahraini: but this can hardly happen so long as the
present salary basis persists, for unless we are prepared to pay our teachers
properly we shall never be able to persuade the best of the Bahrain
schoolboys to consider taking up teaching as a career. The rival
attractions will be, financially, too strong. I therefore further advise
your Highness to ask the Education Department to consider at an early
date the wider question of the adequacy or otherwise of all the payments at
present being made to schoolmasters in Bahrain. Just by way of a guide
in any such enquiry, it may be mentioned here that while the headmaster