Isa Town ( ar, مدينة عيسى, ''Madīnat ʿĪsā'') is a middle class town located in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, in the north central part of the country.

Etymology

The name ''Isa'' refers to

Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifah Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (; 3 June 1931 – 6 March 1999) was the first emir of Bahrain from 1961 until his death in 1999. Born in Jasra, Bahrain, he became emir upon the death of his father, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Early life and reig ...

, the ruler of Bahrain from 1961 to 1999.

History

Isa Town largely comprises affluent newly constructed villas, and is home to many members of Bahrain's educated middle classes. In 2002's election it was one of the few areas of Bahrain not to be entirely represented by an Islamist or

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

MP, with Abdnabi Salman of the formerly communist Democratic Bloc winning the seat. In 2006's election, ex-Harvard academic, Dr

Munira Fakhro Munira Fakhro ( ar, منيرة فخرو) is a Bahraini academic and was a candidate in Bahrain's 2006 general election for the opposition Waad. Dr Fakhro is Associate Professor at thUniversity of Bahrain having received her Doctorate in Social Po ...

of Waad lost in controversial circumstances to Sunni Islamist Dr Salah Ali of Al-Menbar Islamic Society. It was one of the twelve

municipalities of Bahrain Bahrain was formerly split into twelve regions (mintaqah) that were all administered from the capital city of Manama. On July 3, 2002, these were superseded by the five Governorates of Bahrain (four as of September 2014, with the abolishment of the ...

after being split off of the municipality of al Mintaqah al Wusta in 1988, and is now part of the Central Governorate.

Notable sites

Isa Town is famous for the traditional

marketplace A marketplace or market place is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods. In different parts of the world, a marketplace may be described as a '' souk'' (from the Arabic), ' ...

. Isa Town also houses most of the private schools in Bahrain, with the ''Indian School'', ''The New Indian School'', '' Pakistan Urdu School'', '' Sacred Heart School'', ''

Ibn Khuldoon National School The Ibn Khuldoon National School is a school in Isa Town, Bahrain. The school is private, coeducational, non-profit, self-supporting, and bilingual. It offers an education based on the American curriculum, along with the International Baccalaur ...

'', ''Pakistan School'', ''The Bahrain Bayan School'', the ''Naseem International School'' and the '' St. Christopher's School'', all concentrated into a small zone which also includes the Isa Town campus of the University of Bahrain. The ''National Driving School'' and the ''Directorate of Road Traffic'' have their headquarters in Isa Town. Other offices include the Ministry of Education and the ''Ministry of Information'', which includes the Bahrain Radio & TV broadcasting station, in Isa Town. Besides the market, the main landmark is the

Bahrain National Stadium Bahrain National Stadium ( ar, ستاد البحرين الوطني; transliterated: Stād al-Bahrayn al-Watanī) is the national stadium of Bahrain, located in Riffa. It can accommodate 24,000 spectators and is used mostly for football Fo ...

. The new Bahrain Polytechnic has also opened on the site of the old Bahrain University.

Pakistan School, Bahrain

Pakistan School, Bahrain (PSB; ur, ) is a

Pakistan International School Pakistan International School ( ur, ) are schools based outside Pakistan which promote the national curriculum. These schools fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education and cater mainly to students who ...

located in Isa Town,

. The school was founded in July 1968 by a group of

overseas Pakistanis Overseas Pakistanis ( ur, ), or the Pakistani diaspora, refers to Pakistani people who live outside of Pakistan. These include citizens that have migrated to another country as well as people born abroad of Pakistani descent. According to th ...

. Originally the school was housed at a rented building in

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...

with 100 students. With a gradual increase in enrollment, the need to construct a school building was deemed necessary, to provide all modern educational facilities. At the request of the managing committee of the school, the

Kingdom of Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ad ...

leased land in Isa Town for the construction of the school. The Minister of Education Ali M. Fakhro, laid the foundation stone of the school on 10 January 1983 while H.E

Salman, Crown Prince of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa ( ar, سلمان بن حمد آل خليفة; born 21 October 1969) is the Crown prince and the Prime Minister of Bahrain. He is also the deputy supreme commander of the Bahrain Defence Force. Early life and educat ...

performed the inauguration of the building on 23 March 1985. The building was again expanded and on 25 September 1993, Jinnah Block was inaugurated. On 5 June 1995, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan inaugurated Sir Syed Block.

Isa Town Market inferno

On 15 July 2012, the Isa Town

caught fire, damaging more than 450 shops and causing damages amounting to hundreds of thousands of

dinars The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...

. It took dozens of firefighters and around 30

fire engines The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Fire Engines were an influence on many bands that followed, including Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, with Meat Whiplash and The Candyskins both taking their names from Fire ...

more than five hours to control the blaze. There were no reported casualties although two firemen were

hospitalized A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emergency ...

due to

smoke inhalation Smoke inhalation is the breathing in of harmful fumes (produced as by-products of combusting substances) through the respiratory tract. This can cause smoke inhalation injury (subtype of acute inhalation injury) which is damage to the respirator ...

. It was estimated that two-thirds of the market was destroyed. Bahrain's

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa ( ar, خليفة بن سلمان آل خليفة) (24 November 1935 – 11 November 2020) was a Bahraini royal and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Bahrain from 10 January 1970 until his death in 20 ...

, ordered a probe to be set up to investigate the incident.

Healthcare

Alwalil Hospital Bahrain partners with Prime Sports & Medical Agency of England for recruitment of Nurses, Radiologist, and Laboratory Technician and Medical Assistance for Employment

Notable residents

Saudi singer,

Rashed Al-Majed Rashed Al-Majed ( ar, راشد الماجد; born 27 July 1969) is a Saudi singer, actor, musician, and record producer. He has been active since 1984. Rashed Al-Majed is one of the most famous singers in the Middle East and has released almo ...

, the Bahraini guitarist Khalid Al-Thawadi and the Brothers Band ( ar, فرقة الأخوة) drummer, Wajeeh Hassan live in Madinat Isa.

References

{{Coord, 26, 10, 25, N, 50, 32, 52, E, display=title, region:BH-16_type:city(40000)_source:dewiki Populated places in Bahrain Former municipalities (regions) of Bahrain