Messenger
I received two types of reproaches to my articles on Wednesday and Thursday, on the issue related to the background of founding the Mubarakiya School, and how I neglected the role of ‘Yusuf bin Isa Al-Qanaei’ in founding the school.
I refuse the improper reproach because I am convinced I have committed no sin but I gladly accept the other smooth reproach. I write this article which is neither an original record of history, nor a reference, but rather remains almost a general talk.
It was reported by sources that the idea of establishing the Al-Mubarakiya School was without prior coordination and three personalities were behind it, Yusef bin Isa Al-Qanaei, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and Yassin Al-Tabtabaei, and the latter was the first to raise the idea during a sermon he gave in March 1910; Yusuf bin Isa was influenced by it, so he wrote an article in which he talked about the importance of science and the need for schools, so a committee was formed headed by
Messenger
The education kicked off in Kuwait as ‘a private education’ after the authority refused to contribute to the establishment of the Al- Mubarakiya as the first school of its kind, and it was named after the founder of modern Kuwait, Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah (1837-1915), and that was in the year 1912.
Education before that, even long after it was mostly rudimentary and was given through the Kottab (elementary school primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar and Islamic subjects, other practical and theoretical subjects were also often taught).
The initiative to build the Mubarakiya School started as a popular initiative, but those who adopted the idea collected only about 50,000 rupees for its construction, and it was thirty thousand rupees less than what was required.