Bahrain

Nursery and preprimary schools, both private and public, provide care and instruction for preschool age children. Primary education in Bahraini government schools throughout the three cycles of basic education centers on compulsory core subjects including religious education (Islamic education), Arabic language, science and technology, social studies, art, physical education, and music. English language and family-life studies do not begin until the fourth grade in the second cycle, and practical studies do not begin until the seventh grade in the third cycle. The study plan for the third cycle allows for three additional periods per week in order to increase the subject range for students as well as the teacher-student contact hours.

In the academic year 1999-2000 there were a total of 165 government schools in the primary school category, including 115 schools (59 male, 56 female) classified by the government as primary schools, 18 (12 male, 6 female) classified as primary/intermediate, and 32 (14 male, 18 female) classified as intermediate. Enrollments in government primary schools totaled 90,938, with 62,289 students at the primary level (31,043 male, 31,246 female) and 28,649 at the intermediate level (14,094 male, 14,555 female) according to government classification.