Sharing Good Practice
REFORMING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM
IN BAHRAIN
BY: AHMED A.KARIM
Why Was Change Needed?
In the twenty first century, education
plays an increasingly important role
in both preparing students to enter
the workforce and providing ongoing
opportunities for upskilling on their
career path. According to the Higher
Education Council, "the vital role
of education is reinforced by the
rapid pace of technological change,
as well as global economic forces.
Within this context, the education
and workforce development systems
are critical for supporting human
capital development throughout the
life course and to helping Bahrain
achieve its vision for 2030" (2012, p.
1). Faced with depleting oil resources
and an increasingly competitive
trading environment, the Kingdom of
Bahrain’s national strategy, Economic
Vision 2030, provides a roadmap to
sustainability through growth and
diversification of the economy. It
created demand for a more highly
skilled labour force, identifying the
need for educational reform to create
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Term 1 Sep - Dec 2019
"an effective education system,
relevant to today's global labour
market" (Soman, 2008, para. 4), as
there were gaps between what the
education system was providing and
the skills required by employers. The
mismatch between the job market
and graduate capability led to high
youth unemployment. However, as
Al Daylami et al., (2015) explains, this
problem is not unique to Bahrain,
with the World Bank reporting that
youth unemployment is a problem
across the whole Middle East and
North African region (The World Bank,
2013). As a consequence, Al Daylami
et al., explains, Bahrain instigated
a comprehensive series of national
education reform initiatives across all
sectors of education and at all levels:
schools, vocational education and
teacher training, aiming to ensure that
appropriate standards are upheld and
a vocational focus embedded into the
learning process that would make
Bahrainis the employees of first choice
(ibid.).
Class Time
How Was it Done?
In June 2005 Bahrain’s Economic
Development Board (EDB) initiated
a study into the condition of the
education system and the performance
of students in the Kingdom. The study
benchmarked Bahrain's education
system
and
outcomes
against
international best practice in more
than 20 countries and it reviewed ways
in which other countries approached
educational improvement (Economic
Development Board, 2008).
A team from the Ministry of Education
(MoE), the Ministry of Labour, the
University of Bahrain, the Bahrain
Chamber of Commerce and Industry,
the Supreme Council for Women, the
EDB, and other stakeholders were
brought together to develop a reform
plan for Bahrain's education system.
They were asked to study the most
successful reforms undertaken around
the world, and use what they learned
to develop a bold and comprehensive
reform plan for the Kingdom. The