HRH the Premier is keen to support the High Education Institutions and enable them to perform their educational mission, as well as supporting their efforts in graduating qualified national cadres, who are highly trained, in addition to supporting the comprehensive development plans in Bahrain.
HRH the Premier aims highlighting that the Bahraini citizen is the pillar of the country’s true wealth, and the keystone of its development, for they are responsible to elevate the homeland and preserve its achievements.
By this approach, the government is exerting great efforts under the chairmanship of HRH the Prime Minister to prepare the qualified human element to join all various fields and work locations with great efficiency, through developing and modernizing education’s outcomes and support them to keep up with the requirements of the era , and the needs of the labor market.
Meanwhile, and with the great concern of the respected government over the past years, a witnessed progress has been achieved in developing education with all of its levels either both quantitative and qualitative. The government succeeded in providing education for all, where there was a complete absorption of all students at the age of compulsory education, and Bahrain attained the first position on the Arab level in this field and for three consecutive years. The registration of students in the primary education reached 100%, and the state provided a school seat for the people of Bahrain in all various levels, together with ensuring full equality between boys and girls.
Through the initiatives of the national project for the development of education and training over the past years, the government worked to establish a Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training, establishing Bahrain Polytechnic University that offers diploma and bachelor’s degrees in the field of technical education, in addition to the establishment of Bahrain Teachers College (BTC) that prepares new qualified teachers to work in the Ministry of Education. In addition, the initiative aimed at professionally developing the existing teachers, as well as developing the vocational secondary education programme.
The government’s work programme for the years (2011 2014) contains many plans and programmes to improve the educational process, including: strengthening the education infrastructure, including the electronic infrastructure, establishing more educational facilities, and establishing more learning resources centers.
The government’s work programme also includes improving the quality of the school facilities for the next phase, make them cope with the highest standards of quality and safety, and improve the quality of educational outcomes by improving the performance of students, through increasing the time allocated for learning. It also aims at reviewing and developing the curricula.
On the other hand, the idea of establishing an open university in the Arab World as a non-profitable project is referred to the initiative of the Chairman of the Arab Gulf Programme for Development (AGFUND),HRH Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, when he announced in 1996 for his initiative to create an open Arab university as a non-traditional educational institution. That University contributes in directing development in science, social and cultural fields.
The initiative evolved in 2002 to be on the ground as an integrated university, as the Open Arab University, and it was launched with a joint collaboration with the Open University in the United Kingdom.
The Open Arab University includes more than 30 thousand students in seven Arab countries which are Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon.