Education in Bahrain

It precedes the primary level, and is attended by children of below school age. It is divided into two cycles:

• Nursery from birth to three years old
• Kindergarten from three to six years old

This level of education is not included in the above educational ladder. It is run by private sector. However, kindergartens are supervised by the Ministry of Education through Directorate of Kindergartens. Nurseries fall under the responsibility of the Ministry of Social Development.

It divided into two levels as follows:

Primary Level

This level represents the first rungs of the formal educational ladder. It includes the (6-11) years old age group, and lasts for six years. This level is divided into the following two cycles:

• The first cycle combines the first three grades of primary education. Class-Teacher system is applied in all schools of this cycle. Under this system one teacher teaches all subjects – except English Language, Design and Technology, Music and Physical Education
• The second cycle combines the upper three grades. A subject-teacher system is applied in this cycle, as a specialized teacher teaches each subject.

The syllabi for the first and second cycles of basic education include the following compulsory core subjects: Islamic education, Arabic language, English language, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, family-life education, physical education, fine arts, songs and music; as shown in the Study Plans in Government Schools.

For the evaluation system, the formative evaluation system is applied in the first cycle aiming at reaching the student to master specific competencies of the subjects through a continuous teaching, diagnosis and correction process. The teacher bases on a variety of instruments and methods for evaluation, such as continuous systematic observation, daily training and practicing, planned activities, individual and group projects, and diagnostic and cumulative tests. The percentage of success is 60% of the total mark in each subject

In the second cycle all schools apply the above system, the percentage of success in the basic subjects (Arabic and Mathematics) is 60% of the total mark ,while the other subjects is 40%.The students in the first or second cycles have the opportunity to be re-evaluated in case of failure in the basic subject. For more details of the Students Evaluation System in Basic Education please refer to the Legislations and Regulations.

Intermediate Level

It is the third cycle of basic education. It is for the students of (12-14) years old, and lasts for three years. The student is admitted to this level upon completion of the sixth grade of primary education. A subject-teacher system is applied in this level; an educationally qualified teacher teaches each subject.

The syllabi for the third cycle of basic education include the following compulsory core subjects: Islamic education, Arabic language, English language, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, practical studies, and physical education as shown in the Study Plans in Government Schools.

For the evaluation system, the students are evaluated through systematic observation, daily training and practicing, planned activities, individual and group projects, mid-semester test, and final examination at the end of each semester. Students must attain an overall score at least 50% in each subject matter. If a student fails a subject matter he/she has the right to re-set the examination in accordance with the terms and conditions stated in the evaluation and examination system. If a student fails more than one subject, he/she will have the right to repeat that grade for one time only, with the provision of remedial lessons for him/her. Failures in the intermediate level are allowed to set the examination as external students. Those who pass the examination are awarded Intermediate Education Certificate.
As from the academic year 1999/2000, the above mentioned student evaluation system has been implemented in some of the third cycle grades. For more details of this system please refer to the Legislations and Regulations

The Ministry of Education intends to develop the Intermediate Education comprehensively. An integrated plan is designed in order to achieve the Ministry's vision concerning education for all.

This level is considered as a continuous to the basic education and a new phase for the student as it prepares him/her for higher education or labour market. It lasts for three years divided into six semesters of three levels. Entry is conditional on obtaining the Intermediate School certificate or its equivalent.

The credit-hours system is applied in this level that provide broad choices of subjects and courses. It permits students to tailor programs that suit their future goals. In this system, the student has a choice to pursue a science curriculum, a literary curriculum, a commercial curriculum, a technical curriculum, textile and clothing track. The last track is for girls only. Students are able to change tracks depending on the common courses among more than one specialization.

The study plan of the secondary level (credit hours system) is based on the total credit hours required to complete secondary education, that are (156) credit hours for scientific, literary, commercial, textile track; and (210) credit hours for technical track.

The credit hours are divided into four groups of courses as follows:

1. Core Courses: They are characterized by the variety, integration, and ensuring a minimum of general knowledge studied by all students. They include a sufficient amount of information, skills, and attitudes that helps the students to continue their study and self-learning. The percentage of core courses out of all the study requirements is 45% for scientific, literary, commercial, textile track and 23.8% for technical track.
2. Specialized Courses: They are a group of courses that the students must study in one track (as major course). The percentage of specialized courses out of all the study requirements is 39% for scientific, literary and commercial tracks; 64.8% for textile and printed advertisement tracks; and 57.2% for technical track.
3. Elective Specialized Courses: These courses are directed towards thorough study of a specialized, or that linked to a field of knowledge. The percentage of these courses out of all study requirement is 8% for scientific, literary and commercial tracks; 11.4% for textile track; and 19% for technical track.
4. Free Elective Courses: The objectives of these courses are to enrich the curriculum, satisfy the students' interests and talent, and achieve the balance and integration between all other core and specialized courses. The percentage of these courses out of all the study requirements is 8% for scientific, literary and commercial tracks.

The daily timetable consists of six periods each of 50 minutes at all secondary schools. The Study Plans in Government Schools show the distribution of the credit hours for each course group required completing secondary education in each track.

The evaluation system in secondary schools is based on the following:

1. The continuous, diagnostic and formative evaluation carried out by the teacher of each course throughout the semester. It comprises 30% of the course's final grade, computed according to the oral and written classroom performance tests .
2. The internal evaluation is the evaluation made by the school by means of a mid-semester examination comprising 20% of the course's final grade. Specialized teachers in each subject matter are participating in this process, supervised by senior teacher.
3. The external evaluation comprises 50% of the course's final grade. The Ministry of Education is carrying out this process in collaboration with the schools by means of unified examination supervised by round committees formed by the Ministry. These committees comprise curricula's specialist and senior teachers. They inspect schools' regularity and organize cumulative and summative evaluation.

Student must attain an overall score of at least 50% in each subject matter, on condition that the students attain 20% out of internal evaluations overall grade, and the same in the cumulative evaluation carried out by the Ministry at the end of each semester.
The student must attain an overall score of at least 50% of final cumulative average, and complete all the study requirements to obtain the Secondary school Certificate.

The Ministry is adopting the percentage system in computing students' results

For more details of the student evaluation system in secondary education and technical secondary education please refer to the Legislations and Regulations.

The Ministry of Education applies The Unification of Academic Secondary Education Tracks Project since 2004/2005 .It includes (Science, Literary and Commercial) Tracks. The project was applied in two secondary schools(one for the boys and the other for the girls).The Ministry will gradually generalized the project until it will be implemented on all the secondary schools. Moreover, The Study Plans in Government Schools show the full description of the courses and requirements for the project of The Unification of Academic Secondary Education Tracks.

Religious education takes place at a specialized institute that follows the Ministry of Education. It is for boys only.

The system of this type of education is the same as that of general Basic Education and Secondary Education in terms of duration of study and admission age, but it emphasizes on Islamic studies aiming at the preparation of men with an appropriate background in religious affairs.

In the light of the development of religious education, a Jafari Religious Institute has been inaugurated in 2002/2003. The curriculum in this institute is similar to the one applied in public schools, except for the Islamic Education, where an Islamic Law (Sharia), according to the Jafari Doctrine has been added.

The Directorate of Private education is the responsible body for supervising the Private Schools and Institutes. The Directorate with the coordination of the other directorates at the Ministry are providing all the private educational institutes with technical support and assistance such as finding teachers to be appointed; providing free Arabic language, Islamic education, Bahrain history and geography textbooks; and assigning specialists to supervise the teachers of those subject-matters.

The private educational institutes comprises the following types:

• Nurseries: They are under the supervision and control of the Ministry of social Development. They follow the women societies and charitable organizations, and some others follow individual institutions.
• Kindergarten: There are a variety of kindergartens in Bahrain, some follow the women societies and charitable organizations, some follow individual institutions and others are attached to private schools as an educational level within their systems. They are attended by children of three to six years old.

• Private Schools: These schools differ among themselves because of the variation of the educational system each school follows / adopts. Private schools in Bahrain are divided into two types as follows:
  1. National Private Schools: They are established and run by Bahraini citizens or with participation of non-Bahraini for the purpose of education on the basis of the national curricula or based on the curricula approved by the Ministry, under its supervision, and which primarily cater to Bahraini students. These schools have various educational levels, starting from kindergarten, primary, intermediate and secondary. They offer bilingual programs, i.e., subjects are taught in Arabic and English.
  2. Foreign Private Schools: They are established, run and finance by foreign persons or establishments in Bahrain for the purpose of education in accordance with foreign curricula and educational supervision, and awards certificates of the country of origin which is an extension thereof and which primarily cater to foreign students. These schools have various educational levels, starting from kindergarten, primary, intermediate and secondary. Arabic language is taught in all foreign schools that accept Arab students in addition to Islamic education for all Muslim students.
  3. Foreign Community Schools: They are established and financed by foreign communities in the State of Bahrain for the purpose of educating their children only.

• Educational Institutes and Centers: They differ among themselves because of the variation of the programs they offer. Some of them follow the commercial establishments and others follow individual Bahraini citizens. They offer training programs in foreign languages, computer, electronic typing, and various skills in communication, management and commerce...etc.

  Each private educational institute has its own curricula, study plans, courses and textbooks. They are submitted to the Ministry of education for approval. The Ministry has the right to modify or stop any curriculum or textbooks that is incompatible with the religious and national values of the country.

The Directorate of Private education is responsible for supervising Arabic language, Islamic education and social studies at the private schools. The Ministry provides these schools with free textbooks of those subjects and assigns specialists to supervise the teachers of those subjects.

The private schools comply with the curricula and textbooks approved by the Ministry that related to Arabic courses for Arab students, Islamic education for Muslim students, and Bahrain history and geography for all students. The minimum number of periods for these subjects to be taught weekly in a foreign private school is as follows:

• 6 periods weekly for Arabic language (first three grades of primary education)
• 4 periods weekly for Arabic language (the rest grades of primary, intermediate and Secondary education)
• One period weekly for Islamic education for Muslim students at all levels.
• All the students take social studies courses according to the Ministry's decision.

Legislations and Regulations show the full text of the Private Educational and Training Institutions in the State of Bahrain.

The Directorate of Special Education is responsible for identifying the handicapped students and the supervision of students with special needs in public schools as well as special institutions abroad.

Some government schools have remedial classes for slow learners and low achievers according to the school's needs for these classes. The Ministry also adopts in a group of schools the project of integrating students with special needs into ordinary classes together with their normal peers with the aim of avoiding their separation from the environmental life, i.e., the ordinary schools and classes.

The Directorate of Special Education takes also the responsibility of discovering other cases such as mentally retardation, deaf, speech defect, and blind in government schools and transferring them to the specialized institutions and centers supported by the Ministry.

A number of specialized institutions are available in Bahrain such as:

The Saudi-Bahraini Institute for the Blind:

It is a regional institute located in Bahrain. It provides educational training and cultural programs in addition to full health, social and psychological care for sight-impaired boys and girls. The institute uses the same grade structure and curriculum as the regular public schools for primary and intermediate levels. Students who complete their intermediate level are transferred to regular secondary schools, which provide them with special care. The institute uses Braille as a method of instruction.

For more information, please visit our site
http://www.blindinstitute.org

The Directorate of Continuing Education at the Ministry of education organizes educational programs for two categories in the society; the first one is the illiterates, and the second includes those who have passed successfully literacy and follow-up stages, and are willing to continue their education, in addition to the continuing education programs. The following is a brief description of the Literacy and Conitinuing Education programs.

Literacy

The duration of study in literacy and adult education program is six academic years divided into the following:

1. Literacy stage: It is considered as a basic stage for those who cannot read and write. It lasts for two academic years. The subjects taught in this stage include Islamic education, Arabic language and mathematics. It is equivalent to the fourth grade level of basic education.
2. Follow-up Stage: It is lasts for two academic years. Those who obtained literacy stage certificate can attend it. It aims at developing the basic skills the learners have already achieved in the literacy stage. In completion of this stage, students are awarded a certificate equivalent to the sixth grade certificate of formal primary education. The subjects taught in this stage include Islamic education, Arabic language, mathematics, English language, sciences, and social studies.
3. Consolidation Stage: This follows the follow-up stage and is equivalent to the formal intermediate level. Those who completed follow-up stage and are interested in continuing their education attend it, or by those who did not complete the formal education for one reason or another. The curriculum' content applied in this stage is the same as that of third cycle (intermediate level) of formal Basic Education. It is revised to include terminological bases to be given in tow instead of three years. The subjects taught include Islamic education, Arabic language, mathematics, English language, sciences, and social studies (history and geography).

Continuing Education

The Directorate of Continuing Education organizes several continuing education programs for adults which include:

• Language courses: English, Arabic for foreigners, French, Germany; and Japanese.
• Specialized courses: auto mechanic, electrical appliances maintenance, book classification silk, library management and services, computer maintenance and net work, E. commercial, computer literacy programmers, Arabic language and math teaching methods for 1st cycle primary students' parents.
• Specialized courses to upgrade kindergarten teacher efficiency

• The Study Plan for Basic Education
• The Study Requirements for Secondary Education (Credit Hours System)
  • Credit Hours Required to Complete Secondary Education in Each track
  • Credit Hours for Core Courses
  • Credit Hours for Compulsory and Elective Specialized Courses
    • Scientific Track
    • Literary Track
    • Commercial Track
    • Textile and Clothing Section
    • Printed Advertisement Section
    • Technical Track
    • Free Elective Courses
• The Study Requirements for Secondary Education (Unification of Tracks System)
  • The Distribution of the Required Credit Hours to Graduate from the Secondary Education
  • Distribution of Study Tracks Plan (Unification of Tracks)
  • The Distribution of Core Hours in Accordance with Subjects
  • The Distribution of Graduation Requirements in Accordance with Study Semesters
  • Elective Tracks
• The Study Plan for Religious Education
  • Primary Religious Education
  • Intermediate Religious Education
  • Secondary Religious Education