In addition to the American Mission School, another foreign private school was opened in 1910; Al-Ittihad school, funded by the Persian community of Bahrain.
In addition to the public education system, there are forty-eight private and religious schools, including the United States operated and accredited Bahrain School, (which occupies the older school (Awali School) built for the children of expat foreign nationals who worked for BAPCO and lived mainly in Awali) in the 50's. The "Bahrain School now offers classes from primary school through secondary school, whereas the original "Awali School" provided no secondary education so children went to boarding schools in their home countries after the age of about 11 years. In Bahrain there were 5,000 teachers in 1988, of whom 65 percent were native Bahrainis. Egyptians constituted the largest group of foreign teachers. Bahrain also is home to St Christopher's School,which the Guardian has named as one of the eight best international schools in the world, the only school in the Middle East to make the list. 10 universities provide internationally recognized qualifications. Other notable schools include Al Noor International School, British School of Bahrain, The Indian School and Sacred Heart School