Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): It has been one month after schools started in Bahrain, but what are the education results achieved during this month? It is good that a senior government official invited the schools' principals to a workshop to listen to their answers to this question.

We raised this question to one of the schools' principals and his answer was shocking. He told "Bahrain Mirror", as expected, the voluntary retirement proposed by the government last year left gaps in schools.

"Most of those who retired are teachers of main subjects like Mathematics and Arabic. You can imagine how schools are working amid absence of such teachers. No one is receiving enough education and who says something different is only trying to falsify the truth," he added.

Schools are working with a very limited staff, and no one was brought in place of the last batch of teachers who retired last July. Ministry of Education officials often apologize for responding to requests from school principals to make up for the shortfall.

"If we get a response from the principals of education (primary, elementary, secondary), they answer that they have no solutions to the problem, and that all schools need additional teachers," said the principal. "Who has the solution then?" he wondered.

Parents of students in Al-Dair Elementary School confirm that there are two subjects without teachers and say "although the students in class didn't go to school in protest against the absence of teachers, the ministry did nothing."

Nonetheless, the ministry asked the school principals to give the teachers more working hours to compensate for the lack of staff. Some teachers of main subjects teach 24 hours per week, let alone the other tasks assigned to them such as monitoring students during exams.

The principal said that the teachers are paying for the wrong policies "many teachers are struggling to teach students (...) but that is not fair. The ministry should reconsider its policies and quickly find out a solution for the situation."

"Teachers are living very difficult situations, many of whom wish they had voluntarily retired," he noted, adding that "the ministry has completely relinquished its responsibilities."

Reports confirm that students do not receive adequate classes in subjects such as Mathematics and Arabic. Students in many schools are taking additional classes in sports and computer.

The Ministry of Education is keeping a low profile on the results of the work of the German Company ROLAND BERGER, which began its work at the beginning of the year in restructuring the ministry.

The company had submitted a bid of 1.83 million dinars in exchange for consulting to develop the ministry's structure and implement a program of reforms.

The results the company reached are still unknown until now. However, it is known that classes are without teachers, while students in all schools are not receiving sufficient learning of basic subjects.

The easiest way for government officials would be to respond saying that this information is false. But if anyone cares about education in the country, they should quickly meet with the principals of schools to evaluate the reality of situation one month after the beginning of the scholastic year.

Arabic Version