Bahrain

The statistics and social indicators relevant to the education sector in Bahrain are relatively positive. Although petroleum revenues are important to the development of the physical facilities and technological capabilities of Bahrain's educational infrastructure, the priority of human resources development is even more crucial. Some of the social problems faced by other Arab Gulf states—high unemployment, lack of coordination between educational programs and the labor market, even apparent apathy—seem to have been tempered in Bahrain, a country with significantly less oil wealth than its richer neighbors. But it is an awareness of constraints brought on by resource depletion that has provided the motivation for Bahrain's human resources development and the establishment of its services and industrial sectors.

Bahrain has forged highly successful enterprises in the face of resource-depletion challenges. This spirit of entrepreneurialism has established the country as the leading financial center of the Middle East, a pioneer in education, an innovator in training services, and a model for other Arab Gulf states. Moreover, the ruling Al Khalifa family appears to be relinquishing some of its monarchical control, which bodes well for the greater freedom and motivated involvement of Bahrainis in developing their individual and collective potential.