Foreign students to cost more for education

Manama : Education for non-Bahraini students studying in public schools may no longer be free as the country’s lawmakers are considering imposing BD400 as annual fees, it is learnt. A proposal in this regard has been submitted by MP Jalal Kadhim who called for compelling foreign pupils studying in public schools to pay an annual fee. 

Kadhim stated on his official Twitter page yesterday that the proposal is to amend the existing Education Law and impose the fees on non-Bahrainis.

He claimed that “the proposal comes in line with the laws implemented in GCC, which, for years, didn’t offer free education to foreigners”.

“There are 16,000 non-Bahraini students in public schools and their annual return is BD0. Imposing BD400 fees would generate BD6.7 million for the State,” Kadhim tweeted. He confirmed that the proposal would soon be placed on the agenda of the House of Representatives’ weekly sessions. 

DT News reported last year that the MP had called for charging non-Bahraini students, excluding GCC nationals and students from countries that offer free education to Bahrainis.

The council’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee had previously approved the proposal from a constitutional perspective. The proposal aims to edit the seventh article of the existing Law 27 of the year 2005 with respect to educational services in the Kingdom. The current law stipulates that “fundamental (primary and intermediate) and secondary education should be free for all students of public schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain.”