MPs Call for Incentive Allowance for Disabled Learners

A group of MPs have lodged an urgent proposal calling for a monthly incentive allowance for
people with disabilities while they attend training and rehabilitation courses at accredited centres in
Bahrain, to run until they finish the programme, receive their certificate and are ready to take up
work.

The request was sent to the Speaker of Parliament and the Bureau with an explanatory memo, and
the MPs asked for it to be added to the agenda under new business. The sponsors are Hisham Al
Awadhi, Khalid Buanaq, Ahmed Qarata, Zainab AbdulAmeer and Ahmed Al Salloom.
In the memo, the MPs say training periods often run for long stretches, sometimes years, leaving
trainees and their families facing ongoing costs. They argue that a regular allowance would help
trainees stay enrolled through to the end and ease the financial load on households during that
time.

MP Hisham Al Awadhi said the allowance is meant to back trainees during their course, encourage
families to enrol their children in rehabilitation programmes, and strengthen the results of the
centres by helping them keep trainees in place and draw more applicants.

The memo also points to overseas examples where similar monthly payments have raised
participation and helped trainees rely more on themselves. The MPs say continued backing
through rehabilitation can improve inclusion in society and the labour market, and fits with state
goals aimed at economic empowerment for people with disabilities.