Shura to debate private schools law, MPs’ accounts rule and Kyrgyz air deal

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

The Shura Council meets today to take up three bills: a new law to govern private educational institutions, a change to the Council of Representatives’ rulebook on final accounts, and a bill to ratify an air services agreement with the Kyrgyz Republic. First up is the Services Committee report on the draft Private Educational Institutions Law, attached to Decree No. 60 of 2025. The committee has advised approval in principle, saying the bill would refresh the legal rules for private education and bring them closer to national education policy. The text is framed as six issuing articles and seven chapters with 36 articles.

Regulations

It would regulate licensing, management and supervision of private educational institutions, with the stated aim of raising education quality and supporting children’s and students’ development. The committee said it also seeks better learning outcomes over time, clearer governance, and a push for responsible investment in education while balancing the public interest with protecting investors’ rights.

The report says the bill draws a clearer line between private educational institutions and private training institutions, expands the range of bodies under the Ministry of Education’s supervision, and strengthens the ministry’s powers to inspect and monitor private educational institutions.

Sanctions

The committee said the draft law brings tougher administrative and criminal sanctions than those in the current framework, with a view to stopping breaches and cutting repeat violations. It argued the existing rules rely on a limited set of administrative penalties that do not allow for a graded response or take proper account of the type and seriousness of a breach. Under the draft, the ministry would be able to choose one or more steps from a wider, tiered menu of administrative measures, depending on the gravity of the breach and the risk it poses to the educational environment. The committee added that the draft law places the interests of children, students and parents at the heart of the system, and seeks to deal with issues it sees in the current law.

Flexibility

It also links private education rules to Bahrain’s wider education framework and philosophy, while giving the ministry flexibility in how it applies the law as conditions change. In a separate item, the Shura Council will discuss the Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee report on a bill to amend Article 219 of Decree-Law No. 54 of 2002 on the rules of procedure of the Council of Representatives. The bill was prepared in light of a proposal from the elected chamber, and the committee has advised approval in principle. The change would extend the time allowed for the Council of Representatives’ General Secretariat to prepare the chamber’s final account and submit it, audited, to the Speaker. The new time limit would be three months from the end of the financial year.

Approval

The Speaker would then refer it to the Bureau before it goes to the full chamber for discussion and approval. Under the current wording, the final account must be sent to the Bureau within one month of the end of the financial year. The committee said the aim is to match the timetable used for final accounts across government bodies, keep legislative policy consistent, and ease pressure on the General Secretariat, which it said can struggle to finish the work within 30 days without risking notes and omissions.