Shura Council to Vote on New Private Schools

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

More than 90,000 students in Bahrain’s private schools are covered by a draft law due before the Shura Council on Sunday, after the Services Committee backed the text.   

The bill, attached to Decree No. (60) of 2025, would replace the current rules for private educational institutions and separate them from the legal framework that still governs private training institutions. 

In its report, the Services Committee said it was asked to study the draft and report back after the Shura Council Chairman, Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh, referred it for review. 

The committee recommended approval in principle and supported the articles as submitted. 

As described in the report, the draft runs to 36 articles and covers definitions and aims, licensing, management and operation, duties and bans linked to study programmes, the financial system, and rules on investigation and accountability. It says the aim is to link private education to national education policy, improve oversight, and encourage investment while protecting the public interest and investors’ rights. 

The Shura Council’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee said the draft is constitutionally sound, but raised points for discussion. It noted that the repeal clause would remove only the provisions on private educational institutions from the 1998 law, leaving the parts on private training institutions in force. It also pointed to wording in the draft that uses ‘persons with special needs’, despite later Bahraini laws using ‘persons with disabilities’, and questioned how the draft deals with the conditions for an institution’s director beyond requiring ministry approval to manage or operate it. 

The Financial and Economic Affairs Committee stated that fines and penalties could impact public revenues, but emphasized that their primary purpose is to drive compliance rather than generate revenue. It suggested asking for figures on past violations to help estimate the amount of fines that might be incurred. 

The Services Committee also cited provisions aimed at protecting students and parents, including a ban on admitting any child or student before the required standards are met, and a requirement for at least one academic year’s notice if an institution plans to stop activity, alongside steps meant to protect students’ interests. 

Konooz Nursery welcomed parts of the draft, pointing to the definition of early education institutions, time limits for deciding licence applications, and proposed privileges for high-performing providers. The Ministry of Education backed issuing the law and said it would widen supervision to include nurseries and specialised centres, with details left to executive regulations and decisions issued under the new framework.