'File 4/13 IV Kuwait Education' [‎296r] (593/762)

EPOCATION IN THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
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Following on the talk with Mr, Hussey of the British
Council which we had before I left for the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
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I discussed education questions in the Gulf with all the
British officials whom I met, Mr. Keight of the British
Council at Basra who came down to see me at Kuwait, and
with the local managers of the Kuwait dl Company and
the Bahrain Petroleum Company, also with Mr. Woods Ballard,
Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Sultan of Muscat. I
give below my general impressions of the present situation
and of some possible steps which might be taken to Improve
it. These should be ready, with the reservation that my
visit was a very short one and that I am in any case not
an educational expert.
Kuwait.
There has been a rppld growth of primary education in
the last year or two. This now covers some 2G0G boys and
10 0 girls. The teachers are largely Egyptian and Palestine .
Arab. There are also some local teachers. There are only >
60 children receiving secondary education. Great difficulty
is found in obtaining candidates for secondary education ^
because comparatively lucrative Jobs in the Oil Company
and in business are available to those with even the
rudiments of education which they can obtain at the primary
schools. Moreover, girls seldom continue their education
beyond the age of about 12 because they normally get engaged
or married at that age.
There are some 90 students from Kuwait at Cairo
University. They live in a hostel. The arrangement was
I think originally made by Mr. Hlghwood of the British
Council. The Kuwait authorities are satisfied with this
arrangement and the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. was favourably
Impressed with the hostel when he recently visited Cairo.
The Egyptian Director of Education told Mr. Keight
while I was in Kuwait that it was his ambition to make
Kuwait a centre of religious education in the Middle East.
I mentioned to the Minister of Education, who is a
member of the Shaikh's family, the possibility of appointing
an English teacher to teach in the Secondary School. He first
replied that the Egyptians and Palestinian Arabs who taught
there spoke English so perfectly that this was unnecessary,
but he later said he would consider the possibility particularly
with a view to preparing Kuwait students for higher education
in England or America.
The Kuwait Oil Company have started to give extremely
elementary teaching to a few of their local workers.
I do not think there is any prospect of g ettlng a
British expert employed by the Kuwait Government at any
high level in their educational organisation, but if the
British Council agree that it is desirable I think it might
be worth while to press for the appointment of a British
teacher. I suggest that it would in any case be most
desirable for the greatest possible measure of contact to
be maintained between the British Council representative at
Basra and the Director of Education in Kuwait in the hope of
our being able to guide the latter towards relatively efficient
/educational