Bahrain torch relay to celebrate formal education

Manama: Bahrain's education minister, an accomplished athlete, has led a group of 90 people in a torch relay from the oldest school in the Arabian Gulf to the National Stadium, to mark the 90th anniversary of the start of formal education.

Dr Majed Al Nuaimi wore a red shirt on which 1919 was printed in reference to the year formal education began in Al Hidaya School, the first learning institution to be opened in the region.

He carried the flaming torch to an area where a student with the 1920 shirt took it in the second of 90 phases planned for the athletic tribute to education.

The relay was held across Bahrain's five governorates until the student with the 2009 shirt carried the torch into the stadium.

A massive celebration, Bahrain First, involving thousands of students will be held there to mark Bahrain's 90 years of formal education and the National Day.