ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the extent to which the government of Bahrain has provided adequate schooling to its minority communities, including a large immigrant population, in order to integrate them into the social mainstream. It examines the socio-economic status of these multi-national, ethnic and religious groups, the extent of educational access, and the extent to which the existing curricula depict and incorporate multi-national, ethnic and religious content. Population census that are readily accessible on Bahrain's national or religious populations are not consistent in chronology or uniform in their data. Most sources report for certain base years the numbers of Bahraini and non-Bahrainis. An estimated medium projection of the total population was 421,040, of which non-Bahrainis constituted at least one-third, a ratio which has held constant since the early 1980s. Bahrain has exceeded the obligation to provide free schooling by extending it beyond primary cycle of six years as stipulated by the constitution, to include intermediate and secondary levels for all citizens.
