FROM BAHRAIN: Aromatic fuel-powered lamp was giving a gentle light with sweet odor. A bowl full-of various types of chocolate was kept in one side of the lamp. A bunch of paper-made flower was on the other side and as a whole an amiable ambiance was prevailing in the room.
It always prevails, as it is an affinity of Amanullah M Salih, Principal of Bangladesh School in Bahrain.
This reporter met him at his office in the school premise in Manama, capital of the small island state of Persian Gulf. Salih hails from Sri Lanka, another island state of Indian Ocean, some 3,700-kilometer away from Bahrain.
Finding the reporter a bit curious, a solid but calm voice said, “Perfume is good for mental health. This gives the guests a feeling of easiness, and keeping some sweet of any kind is an Arabian culture.”
A Sri Lankan runs a Bangladeshi School in Bahrain, how these three countries came together in one premise, was also a curiosity! Unquestioned, but the answer was there, positively Amanullah M Salih should be the man who can take the responsibility of teaching the kids of Bangladeshis in Bahrain. He is the master of the lamp-house of Bangladesh in the country of some 4000-kilometer away.
With highest educational degrees Amanullah M Salih chose teaching as a profession and worked with different educational institutions in his own country for nine and half a year. Then he flew to Maldives and kept himself engaged with the same profession for over six years.
Later, he traveled to Bahrain and initially joined with a university in an administrative position on part-time basis. And then took the responsibility of the school of the kids of Bangladeshis. It is a community of over a hundred and fifty thousand populations.
A hanged digital board on a side wall in the room was showing the time, date and temperature.
While talking, Amanaullah said that he has to look after all types of activities in connection with the school teaching and administration. He is the top mentor of over nine hundred students; he is the chief administrator and the treasurer as well.
As the school appoints no vice-principal all the duties are dispensed upon him.
Lots of problem in related with the school he has to face. The school building is rented, and the monthly rent is 3,000 Dinar (1 Dinar= 206 BDT), and the space is inadequate to accommodate nine hundred students.
School library is yet to get a space while a small space is allocated for reference library for teachers only. Classrooms are so small, less scopes of play and games in the school premise, arrangement of cultural programmes are also few.
To explain the challenges for running the school Amanullah M Salih said, the Bangladeshi kids are weak in English, besides non-seriousness among the guardians is there. Due to visa complicacy specialized teachers can not be recruited. Some students have to leave schools due to their parents also. 
We are trying to strengthen the quality of English language among the students, said the principal of Bangladesh School.
The school is mainly run under the national curriculum of Bangladesh, still in some classes and cases we follow the British curriculum as well, said Amanullah.
Number of teachers in the school is fifty four. Students are provided with bags, books, diary, copies and kits from school.
While visiting the classrooms, it was found that those are small but tidy. Drawings of school kids are displayed in the classroom walls.
Corridors are also very neat and clean. Flower tubs with colorful flowers are placed in corners and suitable points. School yard is covered with green synthetic carpet.
Water purifying machine supplies pure drinking water for school kids.
It was a holiday. In the ground Banglanews met Farida Yasmin, the student counselor who was passing time along with two kids of her own. 
Presently she is the only counselor in the school but it is difficult to manage the problems of nearly 1,000 students for one person so the school is going to appoint two or three more counselor very soon, Farida informed.
Later, the principal Amanullah again joined with Banglanews team in the campus and offered a drive towards the Bangladesh embassy in Manama. 
On the way to embassy the weather of Bahrain was a discussion point. The principal quickly related the point with his school and said during the Summer days temperature rises up to 50 degree Celsius and it becomes impossible for the kids to attend school.
Sometimes they fall sick in extreme heat and that is why in most of the summer days the schools remain closed. In Bahrain the duration of summer vacation is two-month in schools, he informed.
BDST: 1643 HRS, FEB 01, 2015
