Bahrain

Partners situated in Bahrain

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Bahrain in a nutshell

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The Kingdom of Bahrain (in Arabic: مملكة البحرين ‎, transliteration: Mamlakat al-Baḥrayn, literally Kingdom of the Two Seas) is an island country in the Persian Gulf. Saudi Arabia lies to the west and is connected to Bahrain by the King Fahd Causeway. Qatar is to the south across the Gulf of Bahrain. The planned Qatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge will link Bahrain to Qatar as the longest fixed link in the world.

Bahrain is a constitutional monarchy headed by the King, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa; the head of government is the Prime Minister, Shaikh Khalīfa bin Salman al Khalifa, who presides over a cabinet of twenty-three members.

Bahrain has a bicameral legislature with a lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, elected by universal suffrage and an upper house, the Shura Council, appointed by the king. Both houses have forty members. The inaugural elections were held in 2002, with parliamentarians serving four year terms; the first round of voting in the 2006 parliamentary election took place on 25 November 2006, and second round run-offs were decided on 2 December 2006.

Bahrain is split into five governorates. These governorates are:

1. Capital Governorate
2. Central Governorate
3. Muharraq Governorate
4. Northern Governorate
5. Southern Governorate

In a region experiencing an oil boom, Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world. Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East according to the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom published by the Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal, and is twenty-fifth freest overall in the world. In 2008, Bahrain was named the world’s fastest growing financial center by the City of London’s Global Financial Centres Index. Bahrain's banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom.

In Bahrain, petroleum production and processing account for about 60% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 30% of GDP. Economic conditions have fluctuated with the changing fortunes of oil since 1985, for example, during and following the Gulf crisis of 1990-91. With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to multinational firms. A large share of exports consists of petroleum products made from imported crude oil. Construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. In 2004, Bahrain signed the US-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement, which will reduce certain barriers to trade between the two nations.

Unemployment, especially among the young, and the depletion of both oil and underground water resources are major long-term economic problems. In 2008, the jobless figure was a 3.8%, but women are over represented at 85% of the total. Bahrain in 2007 became the first Arab country to institute unemployment benefits as part of a series of labour reforms instigated under Minister of Labour, Dr. Majeed Al Alawi.

The official religion of Bahrain is Islam, which the majority of the population practices. However, due to an influx of immigrants and guest workers from non-Muslim countries, such as India, Philippines and Sri Lanka, the overall percentage of Muslims in the country has declined in recent years. According to the 2001 census, 80% of Bahrain's population was Muslim, 10% were Christian, and 10% practiced other religions. There are no official figures for the proportion of Shia and Sunni among the Muslims of Bahrain. Unofficial sources estimate it to be approximately 45% Sunni and 55% Shia. The last official census to include sectarian identification (in 1941) reported 53% as Shia.

Bahrain has transformed into a cosmopolitan society with mixed communities; two thirds of Bahrain's population consists of Arabs. A large contingent of people of Iranian descent as well as immigrants and guest workers from South Asia and Southeast Asia are present. A Financial Times article published on 31 May 1983 found that "Bahrain is a polyglot state, both religiously and racially. Leaving aside the temporary immigrants of the past ten years, there are at least eight or nine communities on the island".

Arabic is the official language of Bahrain, though English is widely used. Another language spoken by some of the local inhabitants of Bahrain is a dialect of Persian which has been heavily influenced by Arabic. Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil and Tagalog are occasionally spoken amongst the domestic workers, housemaids and construction workers.

Bahrain education policy

Schooling is paid for by the government. Primary and secondary attendance is high, although it is not compulsory.

Bahrain education system

1919 marked the beginning of the modern public school system in Bahrain when Al-Hidaya Al-Khalifia School for boys was opened in Muharraq. In 1926, the Education Committee opened the second public school for boys in Manama, and in 1928 the first public school for girls was opened in Muharraq.

In 2004 King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa introduced a project that uses Information Communication Technology (ICT) to support K–12 education in Bahrain. This project is named King Hamad Schools of Future. The objective of this project is to connect and link all schools within the kingdom with the internet.

In addition to British intermediate schools, the island is served by the Bahrain School (BS). The BS is a United States Department of Defense school that provides a K-12 curriculum including International Baccalaureate offerings. There are also private schools that offer either the IB Diploma Programme or UK A-Levels. In 2007, St. Christopher's School Bahrain became the first school in Bahrain to offer a choice of IB or A-Levels for students.

Numerous international educational institutions and schools have established links to Bahrain. A few prominent institutions are DePaul University, Bentley College, NYIT and Birla Institute of Technology International Centre.

Bahrain also encourages institutions of higher learning, drawing on expatriate talent and the increasing pool of Bahrain Nationals returning from abroad with advanced degrees. The University of Bahrain has been established for standard undergraduate and graduate study, and the College of Health Sciences; operating under the direction of the Ministry of Health, trains physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and paramedics.

The national action charter, passed in 2001, paved the way for the formation of private universities. The first private university was Ahlia University, situated in Manama. The University of London External has appointed MCG as the regional representative office in Bahrain for distance learning programs. MCG is one of the oldest private institutes in the country.

Institutes have also been opened which educate Asian students, such as the Pakistan Urdu School, the Indian School, Bahrain, The Asian School, Bahrain and the New Indian School, Bahrain.

Virtual initiatives in HE in Bahrain

Arab Open University

Bahrain has an important regional centre for the Arab Open University.

References

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