Parent's Review of Al Bayan Bilingual School in Hawalli, Kuwait

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

Al Bayan Bilingual School

In what town or city is this school located?

Hawalli

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

American system

What grade levels are represented at this school?

KG-12

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

They come with a driver since we are Kuwaiti.

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The school has miserable facilities due to age of the buildings and thetoo little money spent on the property. The building where the English and Social Studies classes are held are drafty, noisy, and hard to teach with all the noise.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

This does not matter as almost all students are Kuwaiti and will stay here after they return from college.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

The social activities cannot happen since we are God-fearing school and the students are not allowed to dance, drink, and not the parents. The parents do not come to the school as we are not welcome. THe director of the school is American and here many years and makes it clear that parents do not need to come to a high school, only to the elementary school. The high school has no social activities for the parents - but the parents get together and say many bad things about the teaching, esp. the teaching of English, over the past five years. The school is going down.

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

The school is well-known and there are many choices in Kuwait. Our school is for the wealthy. If you want your children to learn good English, do not send them here as the testing results are very poor, and the teachers since about 1997 are weak. They have hired many Canadians to replace the Americans. Also, the English Dept. is very bad reputation with a gym teacher as the head of it. The Social Studies Dept. is very weak also. The counselors are not certified. But, the other schools in Kuwait are not wonderful, either.