Deputy Premier, HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, chaired at the Gudaibiya Palace today the meeting of the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training.

HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak, who is the Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training President, congratulated Al-Eman Private School for winning the Arab Reading Challenge 2017, hosted by the UAE, with the participation of 41,000 schools from Arab countries.

The exploit re-affirms the advanced level of Bahraini students, and their ability to compete at various international gatherings, the deputy premier said.

HH Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak also thanked the Ministry of Education for its efforts that led to Bahrain’s achieving leading positions in the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), citing the IEA’s film documenting Bahrain’s academic achievements, and showing that the kingdom has made the highest average achievement increase in mathematics compared to TIMSS 2011, by 45 grades, and making a significant progress in sciences.

He also expressed satisfaction with the kingdom’s being granted the membership of IEA’s General Assembly for its distinguished achievements in TIMSS, Pirls, LaNa and Icls.

He also lauded the participation of Bahraini students from technical schools, the Bahrain Training Institute and Bahrain Polytechnic in the skills competition (WorldSkills Abu Dhabi 2017), held in the UAE, wishing them every success.

The Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training was briefed by the Education Minister about the Ministry’s work plan to improve the performance of private schools, especially those with “inadequate” performance according to the review reports of the Education and Training Quality Authority (BQA).

The plan includes four phases, and schools which fail to improve their performance may have their licences withdrawn.

The council also reviewed the projects of the Labour and Social Development Ministry to develop vocational training.

A presentation given by the same ministry highlighted the challenges related to the labour market, and stressed the need to strike a balance between the wishes of the graduates and the needs of employers.

The presentation also highlighted the Labour and Social Development Ministry’s plans and projects to improve vocational training and prepare job seekers to join the labour market.

The Supreme Council for the Development of Education and Training approved the third cycle of BQA’s review reports of government schools, and the cycle of the review reports of private schools.

The results showed a rise in the number of public and private schools that achieved an “excellent” rating compared to previous cycles.

The Council also reviewed the results of the third cycle of the performance reviews of vocational training institutions, as well as the results of the second cycle of the reviews of academic programmes in higher education institutions.

The deputy premier gave directives to use the results of the BQA review reports to improve the performance of educational and training institutions.

Source: Fana News