Hidd School Closure Sparks Row Over Timing
A private school in Hidd has been shut before a single lesson was taught after its investors ran into financial trouble, with MP Khalid BuAnaq defending the timing of the closure and rejecting a councillor’s call for a set notice period before schools close.
Mr BuAnaq said closing the school before the 2026-27 academic year began had spared nearly 200 students and their families from being left without places once term was under way.
The councillor had called for a clear law requiring advance notice before a closure and laying down how students, fees and Bahraini staff should be dealt with. He argued that families and workers should not be faced with a sudden shutdown.
Mr BuAnaq disagreed.
‘There is no need for any further legislation on this,’ he said, arguing that Parliament had already passed the Private Educational Institutions Law during the last legislative session.
He said the law gave the Education Ministry the powers it needed to examine schools’ finances and act in cases such as ACA Bahrain
The Education Ministry cancelled the educational licence of American Creativity Academy (ACA Bahrain), which offered the American and International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula, at the investors’ request due to financial difficulties.
The Industry and Commerce Ministry has said the academy’s commercial registration remains active pending an application to liquidate it.
Mr BuAnaq praised the Education Ministry’s handling of the case, saying it acted before families were left searching for school places after term had begun.
‘The ministry’s decision was right and came to protect the interests of pupils and their parents,’ he told The Daily Tribune.
The school was still being established and had yet to open its doors when a dispute broke out between its private investors over money, according to Mr BuAnaq.
The investors asked for the school to close, but the ministry first required every fee collected from registered students to be returned.
It also required the closure to take place before the school year began and stepped in to move pupils to other private schools.
Around 80 pc of those registered have now been placed elsewhere, Mr BuAnaq said, with work continuing to find places for the rest.
Staff will be dealt with under Bahrain’s Labour Law rather than education law, using the rules that apply to private-sector workers in such cases.
Mr BuAnaq said the existing law also allowed the Education Ministry to obtain detailed reports on ACA Bahrain’s finances before cancelling its licence.
He thanked Education Minister Dr Mohammed bin Mubarak Juma for putting pupils and their families first.
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