Al-Othman School. A landmark in the old city of Kuwait

We had talked in the previous article about one of the most important men of education in Kuwait, the late Mulla Othman Abdul Latif Al-Othman, who, along with his distinguished Kuwaiti men, constituted a golden age for the history of education in Kuwait. In this article, I will talk about a beacon of knowledge and education that was popularly mentioned in Kuwait in the past, specifically in the year 1931. The late father Abdullah Al-Othman worked with his brothers Mulla Othman, Mullah Mohammed, and Mr. Abdulaziz Al-Othman on a family project that carried their names throughout history in the field of science and education, on Bin Duaij Road, near the present "Faris Mosque", where they established an independent private school with a new system and character, far from the Katatieb "small teaching classes" used in that era. These Katatieb were common back in that time to many people because there were no private schools with an administrative and financial system and an inclusive educational curriculum. Until I went through the stage of searching and delving into the archive of the father (may Allah have mercy on him) and what it contained of documents, papers, lists of students' names, accounting books, and preparation books that removed such ambiguity and explained to me the existence of several other private schools besides the Al-Othman School. Through research, the records revealed that this school was a modern private school with its own pioneering experience in the history of education in Kuwait, and it must be noted that the late Abdullah Al-Othman and his brother Mulla Othman were brilliant and intelligent while they were studying in the first Mubarakiya school, which prompted them to rise in the educational scales despite their young age. The four brothers gathered after several years to establish Al-Othman School, which lasted until 1946, with a number of students that exceeded 350 and a comprehensive and collaborative educational curriculum that taught Arabic and English, mathematics, the foundations of accounting, the Qur'an, and jurisprudence, in addition to the reading sessions that were characterized by foreign novels and stories, such as the story of The Merchant of Venice by the playwright Shakespeare, according to what was mentioned in the archive records. The accounting records in the archives also showed that the school tuition fees for one student at that time were estimated at one rupee per month, to be paid either monthly or annually. In the event that the student’s family is insolvent, he is not expelled from school, but his enrollment is registered until he is able to pay; sometimes the amount is overlooked, which confirms to us that the first and primary goal of that school was not purely material, as is the case in private schools in our time, but rather an emotional and patriotic goal that is in the interest of the people of society first and foremost. With reference to the honorable teachers who participated in the responsibility of education at that time alongside the late father and his brothers, there are several honorable educators, such as Mulla Saleh bin Sheikh Musaed Al-Azmi, Mulla Nasser Al-Misfer, Youssef Al-Rashdan, Dawood Al-Harban, Mulla Muhammad Al-Wahib, and many others. After 15 years of working, the school closed its doors with the development of education in Kuwait and the emergence of free public schools, and each of the brothers performed his mission with sincerity and dedication. Thus, Al-Othman School, with its founders, formed a role model in terms of solidarity to lay the foundations of culture, science, and literature and record a significant imprint. With moderation and distance from intolerance, by joining students of all their differences in terms of sect, social, and intellectual class, and the demand for a curriculum that brings together all spectrums of society and away from sectarian segregation and the privacy of each group, it was a pillar of the intellectual and educational renaissance in Kuwait in the past. In conclusion, I can only say, "May Allah have mercy on those who were a beacon and light for the paths of successive generations, and may Allah reward them with the best reward and enlighten their path to heaven, just as they enlightened our hearts with knowledge and piety, and I hope to see a new educational renaissance in this country that will lift this generation from illiteracy to come!

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