A NEW centre to promote creativity, scientific invention and artificial intelligence could be built in Bahrain, if a municipal proposal is given the go-ahead.

Education Minister Dr Mohammed Mubarak Juma told the Southern Municipal Council that their proposal, which has been approved unanimously, will undergo a feasibility study for possible inclusion in the ministry’s construction and buildings plans following 2023.

However, he said in writing that even if the centre is approved, it will be subject to availability of financing and priorities.

“At the moment, we are committed to a construction and buildings plan that started in 2020 and continues until the end of this year. This includes building new schools and additional academic buildings on certain campuses,” said Dr Juma.

“Our utmost concern at the moment is to ensure students get chairs to sit in class and that their basic education needs are met,” he added.

“We are also working on meeting educational demands of new housing towns following a surge in population in all of the four governorates of the kingdom.

“However, we will list the centre for study and, if possible, we will add it to our future plans depending on available financing and priorities.”

He said the ministry was already scouting talented students at all levels in government schools.

“The extra talented students are then taken to the Gifted Students Centre in Muharraq where their abilities, skills and creativities are enhanced,” said the minister.

“This does not mean that other students are singled out; they are also given attention to showcase their capabilities on campus with administrators, teachers and faculty pushing them to evolve and grow in things they do best.”

Meanwhile, council chairman Abdulla Abdullatif said the new centre is a visionary project that the ministry shouldn’t miss out on.

“We have something that could be much bigger than Dubai Expo, I don’t mean in size or facilities but in the fact that it would nurture local young talent, strap a rocket on their backs and propel them into the future,” he said.

“The current Gifted Students Centre in Muharraq is good and dealing with outstanding students, but the thing we want is to branch out from that.

“Investing into the centre as expensive as it may be or as lavish compared to conventional education facilities, it will just transform the country, should the centre get listed in the 2023-2024 or the 2025-2026 national budgets.”

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