Bahrain wakes up to reality of education standards
Brij Sharma
July 01, 2009
Bahrain is set to introduce sweeping education reforms to bring its standards on a par with the international norms. This follows the submission earlier this week of recommendation by the government-appointed Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training.
Come to think fo it, how many countries in the world, much less the Third World, would go for an all-out assessment of the true worth of its education system? In many countries, a giant like India included, education hardly figures near the top of the government´s agenda of governance. Not so in Bahrain, a city-state, where the authorities have realized that if their country has to compete in the world arena then its citizens must be educated in a better fashion than at present.
The report submitted by the Authority, while commenting on the current state of education, did not paint a very rosy picture. To prepare the report it had taken into consideration 20 public schools, 8 vocational training institutions and 2 higher education institutions, besides the results of the national examinations conducted in May. It was blunt enough to report that only 4 of the 20 public and private institutions were ´Good´ while 13 were just ´Satisfactory´ and 3 were ´Inadequate´. The report had ´No confidence´ in two of the four higher education courses and in the remaining two it had only ´Limited confidence´. Vocational institutions were criticized with half of them deemed ´Inadequate´.
However, this being the first exercise ever for the assessment of an important sector, the government was not overly alarmed with the weaknessnes pointed out in the report card. Indeed the Authority´s Chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa remained upbeat, calling upon all institutions to make their best efforts to improve standards and services. The Authority´s CEO Dr Jawaher Al Mudhahki added: "We being here means those in charge know something needs to be done to bring about improvements and we hope to reach the point where progress would be evident."
The Executive Director of the National Examinations Unit Sylke Scheiner went one step further and claimed that in the international context the report was not all that grim, and was indeed normal. One Press report quoted her as saying: "In the UK, with Ofsted [the British equivalent of the Authority] the picture is quite similar. Although the baseline is quite shocking, you will see a huge improvement in the next three to five years. These reviews will show where the institutions need to focus to improve things for the future."
The recommendations of the Authority are meant to set the tone for improving standards and tresearch and training facilities and developing them to a level were Bahrain should maintain its leading position in the region in the field of education. Its conclusions should also help standardize the educational sector in Bahrain and push the National Education Reform Initiative. This would include not only overseeing the coming plans of these institutions as they try to improve quality but also offering them support where needed.
Like the king of Japan in the mid-19th century, the Crown Prince of Bahrain a few years ago had initiated a scheme to assist and offer scholarships to bright students to complete higher studies overseas in plum institutions. To ensure that deserving candidates come forward to take advantage of it in successive years, the Authority´s assessment and recommendations have come none too soon.
BRIJ SHARMA is a journalist based in Bahrain
Come to think fo it, how many countries in the world, much less the Third World, would go for an all-out assessment of the true worth of its education system? In many countries, a giant like India included, education hardly figures near the top of the government´s agenda of governance. Not so in Bahrain, a city-state, where the authorities have realized that if their country has to compete in the world arena then its citizens must be educated in a better fashion than at present.
The report submitted by the Authority, while commenting on the current state of education, did not paint a very rosy picture. To prepare the report it had taken into consideration 20 public schools, 8 vocational training institutions and 2 higher education institutions, besides the results of the national examinations conducted in May. It was blunt enough to report that only 4 of the 20 public and private institutions were ´Good´ while 13 were just ´Satisfactory´ and 3 were ´Inadequate´. The report had ´No confidence´ in two of the four higher education courses and in the remaining two it had only ´Limited confidence´. Vocational institutions were criticized with half of them deemed ´Inadequate´.
However, this being the first exercise ever for the assessment of an important sector, the government was not overly alarmed with the weaknessnes pointed out in the report card. Indeed the Authority´s Chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa remained upbeat, calling upon all institutions to make their best efforts to improve standards and services. The Authority´s CEO Dr Jawaher Al Mudhahki added: "We being here means those in charge know something needs to be done to bring about improvements and we hope to reach the point where progress would be evident."
The Executive Director of the National Examinations Unit Sylke Scheiner went one step further and claimed that in the international context the report was not all that grim, and was indeed normal. One Press report quoted her as saying: "In the UK, with Ofsted [the British equivalent of the Authority] the picture is quite similar. Although the baseline is quite shocking, you will see a huge improvement in the next three to five years. These reviews will show where the institutions need to focus to improve things for the future."
The recommendations of the Authority are meant to set the tone for improving standards and tresearch and training facilities and developing them to a level were Bahrain should maintain its leading position in the region in the field of education. Its conclusions should also help standardize the educational sector in Bahrain and push the National Education Reform Initiative. This would include not only overseeing the coming plans of these institutions as they try to improve quality but also offering them support where needed.
Like the king of Japan in the mid-19th century, the Crown Prince of Bahrain a few years ago had initiated a scheme to assist and offer scholarships to bright students to complete higher studies overseas in plum institutions. To ensure that deserving candidates come forward to take advantage of it in successive years, the Authority´s assessment and recommendations have come none too soon.
BRIJ SHARMA is a journalist based in Bahrain