Education

On March 22, 1956, the late Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa of Bahrain has ordered the formation of the first Council of Education in the country under the chairmanship of Sheikh Mubarak Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, and he appointed Sheikh Khalifa as a member in the council to enable His Highness to take a new step on the road to giving.

Although the position entrusted to the Sheikh Khalifa was a mere membership in the Education Council; Yet, it was a very exciting task for him, and because his sense of responsibility was high, the young man, who was full of enthusiasm for serving the country, thought that is only the start for more development.

He then immediately began searching in the file of the long history of education in Bahrain, in which he discovered that the very beginning of education in Bahrain was introduced in 1893, when the American Missionary opened a school affiliated to the American Hospital to teach Arabic and English. In view of the very nature of this school, its educational mission remained limited. The situation remained so until the beginning of the present century, when the educational awareness began to grow through the establishment of a number of private schools.

Sheikh Khalifa was surprised, and was more confident in what educational development in his country can achieve, upon the pioneering steps that education has achieved in Bahrain, starting from the establishment of the first regular school in the country in 1919 from the people's donations, and the initiative of Sheikh Isa Bin Ali Al Khalifa, Bahrain's ruler 1869 – 1932, His Highness allocated a land for building this school as a donation as a contribution to this project and opening the first school for girls in Bahrain in 1928, which was the first of its kind in the Gulf region.

Sheikh Khalifa has also reviewed the achievements of this educational process in Bahrain on the path to the preparation of the country's youth in the best way in order to qualify them to perform their role in boosting their country in various fields.

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman exerted all his efforts to the service of his country through the Education Council and in the development of the duties of his office. His Highness asked for the permission of his father in August 1956 to visit Britain for about five months. During that period he was briefed on the, teaching methods and modern programs and schools management system.

His Highness returned to the country in January 1957 carrying a lot of new ideas to contribute to the development of education in Bahrain .

The enthusiasm of Sheikh Khalifa in the performance of his duty towards the country was unprecedented, which imparted His Highness the trust and respect of everyone. This, in turn, has encouraged Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa when he decided to restructure the Education Council on the 13 th of January and vested the presidency of the Council to Sheikh Khalifa to succeed Sheikh Mubarak Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who was appointed as head of the Health Council.

The new Education Council included: Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa as Chairman, Sheikh Attiya Abdullah Bin Abdul Rahman Al Khalifa, Mr. Hamad Jassem Kano, Mr. Rashid Abdul Rahman El Riani, Mr. Sadiq Mohamed Al-Baharna, Mr. Mohamed Youssef Jalal, Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa and Alhaj Abdullah Bin Khamis Al Shargawi as members in the Education Council.

The Education Council held its first meeting on the 14 th of January 1957 under the chairmanship of Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman. The first recommendation issued by the Council called for the Council to assume management of the education of boys and girls in order to upgrade them to the same level and in the same direction.

Since assuming the responsibility of the Presidency of the Council of Education Sheikh Khalifa, has worked on setting a program to develop the educational process in Bahrain based on a solid foundations to represent the precedence which Bahrain has already achieved in education that should be developed and relied upon. This is in addition to the great confidence of Sheikh Khalifa in the potentials and capabilities of the youth for this country of scientific achievement and academic excellence in various disciplines.

The Council has also reviewed the housing system provided to foreign teachers; he visited villages and cities to study the necessary requirements. He recommended that the education sector be under the supervision of the Education Council, especially those schools that had a large number of Bahraini students. The Council also considered the urgent need to open new classrooms. The Council, upon the directions of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa, concentrated on improving the education of English language and defining the times of teaching in all schools and equalizing the graduates of the industrial school and the graduates of high school upon their employment.

The thing that requires attention is the bold proposal the Council sought to achieve, i.e., opening schools for girls in villages because education of girls had until then been confined to four major cities in the country.

After a period of time, the Council completed enacting the law of private schools; this stemmed from the interest of the government to supervise and follow-up these schools and to monitor all its activities to be in harmony with the overall trend of the country.

The activity of the Education Council was not confined to the field of education alone but it extended to other cultural fields, reflecting the dedication of its President and its members in the service of the homeland. For example, the discovered ruins exhibition, which was organized by the Council in cooperation with the Danish excavation mission on Wednesday, the 27 th of March 1957, was the first of its kind in the region. The exhibition was held in the Library Hall of the Education Council, and was opened by His Highness Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

It should be noted that this exhibition included a large number of important and rare ruins, including excavations of Bahrain Castle and the surrounding areas, the fossils of Ain AlSajor and Barbar Temple that date back to 3000 years BC. The discovery of these excavations was the result of the efforts of the Danish Mission, which began its operations in Bahrain in 1945.

The First Regular School in Bahrain

When the people of Bahrain, or rather the people of Muharraq, including the rulers, sheiks, traders and dignitaries at the time, realized the importance of science in the lives of peoples, they began collecting donations for the construction of the first edifice of science and knowledge in the territory of Bahrain. All rulers, sheiks and traders began implementation of that dream that became true in 1919 when the first regular school came into existence and was built from the donations of the inhabitants; it was Al Hedayah Al Khalifia School.

In 1921 a second Al Hedayah school was built in the city of Manama after Al Hedayah Al Khalifia School; at the outset, the school building was originally used as the residence of the American Hospital. During 1927 another two schools were built, one at Alhad city and another at Al Raf’a Al Sharqi city. It should be noted that all these four schools were called Al Hedayah Al Khalifia School; the names were changed later, and the schools were later named after the town in which they were located, except for Al Hedayah Al Khalifia School for boys at Al Muharraq, which keeps the same name to this day. As for the villages, the first school was built in 1935-1936 in the village of Satra, and two years later two schools were built in Al Badi’a and Al Khamis.

The First School for Girls

The first school for girls in Bahrain was built in 1928 as a result of joint civil efforts. This event at that time was a historic one not only in Bahrain but also in the entire countries of the region.

In the beginning, a n old Parliament was rented for this school, which belonged to Al-Zayani family. Later, the school moved to another building in 1932-1933 because the old Parliament was narrow. The school remained in that Parliament until a new school was built during the 1930s, which was later named Khadija Al Kobra School.

The First Students Mission Abroad

The first Bahraini mission traveled abroad in 1928 to the American University of Beirut ; the number was nine students.

In 1937-1938, the first female Bahraini students mission (three girls) traveled and joined the Syrian Evangelical College to prepare them for teaching in girls schools in Bahrain after their graduation from that College.

The first students association of all Bahraini students who were studying at the American University of Beirut was formed in 1946; it included many of the students and was headed by Dr. Ali Mohamed Fakhro, the Minister of Education.

In the course of 1927, a Boy Scout team was formed at Manama School, which is currently known as Abu Bakr al-Sadiq School, then followed by another Boy Scout team at Al Hedayah Al Khalifia School in Al Muharraq.
The first secondary school was established in 1939; it was named the Manama College upon its inauguration but was later named Manama Secondary School.

In 1936 a school of industry was opened covering various branches of industry, carpentry, welding, electricity, and mechanics and was under the supervision of the electricity department. The school had a two-year study course and continued under the supervision of this department until 1960-1961 when it became under full supervision of the Directorate of Education.

Libraries.

The first public library was established in Bahrain in 1946 and provided all kinds of science and knowledge to large numbers of citizens every day. This shows how interested were the Bahrainis to learn and use the books of science, literature and culture.

Of course, this is not the first library to be established in Bahrain; because if we look at the past, we will read about the existence of libraries in places other than the Bahrain’s governmental schools, even before the beginning of the twentieth century, specifically in 1894. At the national level, there was Al Thaker library and the missionary libraries at "Iqbal Lawal" libraries. But, for several reasons and disputes, the library lasted for a few days only, and then was replaced by Iqbal Club, which also lasted for few months. As for the Education Department of the government of Bahrain, there was a library that dates back to 1940-1941 but it was in a very old building and included miscellaneous books.

Eradication of Illiteracy and Student Festivals

Bahrain knew illiteracy eradication since the late 1930s through national attempts, as well as the efforts of some of the clubs' youth, who were performing this task with utmost vigor. This activity had been voluntary. The same attempts were repeated during 1951-1952 and studying was at night in a number of public schools, like Khadija Al Kubra School, in Al Muharraq but that did not last long. The illiteracy eradication in its current regular form started since 1973-1974.

On another topic, the first student athlete festival was held in Bahrain in 1933 - 1934, on the occasion of the accession of Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Khalifa. As for the female students, the first festival was held in 1948.

The Evolution of Education in Bahrain

His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, since he took over the premiership in Bahrain in 1961, continued his career in upgrading the level of education in Bahrain .

Today, there are a number of universities, colleges and schools of education; the first was “the Gulf College for Technology" which was established in 1968, then the Gulf University which was established on the 1st of May 1984.
4.32. Until 1984-1985 the number of public regular schools in Bahrain was (134) boys and girls schools, while the number of male and female teachers was "4846". Also, the number of the administrative and technical staff was "619" individuals and the number of classes was "2408". The number of private schools was "88", of which "26" schools, "44" kindergartens and "18" institutes.

At present, education in the Kingdom of Bahrain is not compulsory because all children who are at school age attend voluntarily, whether in government or private schools, and children with severe disabilities attend special education institutions.

The Ministry of Education in Bahrain provides free education at all levels of education in government schools for both Bahraini citizens and other expatriates.

As for coeducation, in the schools, education at all levels of education in government schools takes place separately between the two genders, There are schools for boys and the other for girls that include students and the teaching and administrative staff is of the same gender. There are, however, some primary schools for boys which are managed by females who are the also teaching staff. As for private schools coeducation is applied, except for little where education is separate between the two genders, while coeducation is prevailing at university level in Bahrain.

The Curriculum Department of the Ministry of Education provides school education textbooks for all disciplines and academic levels free of charge at the beginning of every school year in accordance with the syllabus applied by the Ministry. Local curriculum specialists and professors from universities in Bahrain write textbooks; the printing of these books is done either locally in the governmental or commercial printing presses or abroad. The textbooks are being determined for each school aside according to the requirements of special education, and the standards set by the Ministry. The Ministry also dispenses textbooks for subjects such as Arabic language, Islamic education, history and geography of Bahrain free of charge to all private schools that admit Arab and Muslim students.

The Ministry of Education provides also free transportation for students in public schools who live in places far from their schools and who do not have private transportation. The Ministry also sets specific dates for the buses and the gathering of the students. Some private schools provide transportation for students as paid services determined by the school or within the count of tuition fees. The Higher Education institutions in Bahrain also provide transportation for the students who live in places far from their universities.