ABSTRACT The Kingdom of Bahrain considers education one of the most important sectors of human development (Ministry of education, 2004). The government secondary schools' physical education (PE) program provides students with regular physical activities in order to develop sports skills for use throughout their lives, and to develop positive attitudes towards physical activity as part of day-to-day living. It is an elective course for students mainly in the literary, scientific and commercial tracks. Students spend 2 hours per week in a PE class, with a total of 30 sessions in a three- month semester. Each school has its own sports hall and receives a budget for PE. Statement of the problem: Unfortunately, there is few of data related to physical education and activity in Bahrain. With the decline in physical activity during adolescence, there is a need to equip students with skills, knowledge and positive attitudes to maintain a physically active lifestyle. The purpose of this study is: To provide information on the attitudes of high school students towards the PE program in order to increase the role of schools in improving adolescent health, and encourage positive attitudes towards physical education among high school students. The study attempts to answer the following questions: a) What are the students' attitudes towards the PE program? b) What factors in the PE program contribute to students' attitudes? c) What is the relationship between the students' gender, track of the study, and their attitudes toward PE? Hypotheses: It was hypothesized that: a) High school students have negative attitudes toward PE. b) There are factors that significantly contribute to students' positive attitudes towards high school PE program. c) There is a relationship between students' gender, track of the study and their attitude toward physical education. Methodology: Study population were grade 10, 11, and 12 secondary school students (male and female, Bahraini and non-Bahraini), in the three main tracks for the academic year 2004-2005. Their ages ranged between 14 - 21 years. A random sample of students was selected from a total 26 Bahrain government high schools. Sample size: Cluster samples were selected from the total population of 22,321 students in 757 classes, and sampling units approximately 475 students from 16 randomly selected classes from each track. Setting of the study: The students' classroom was used for the implementation of the study. Ethical consideration: Consent was taken from the participating schools and students. Instrument: A self-administered structured questionnaire was completed by the students after a brief explanation of the purpose of the study. The questionnaire was coded, and consisted of two parts: the first 5-item part was related to demographic data, and the second part, consisting of 47 items, was related to students' attitudes towards PE, which was adapted from a tested instrument, the Arabic version of the Edington Attitude Scale for high school students toward PE (Edington, 1968). Results: The findings from the study suggest that the PE program has a lower status than other subjects. The reasons for this may be attributed to the type of activities, lack of facilities and uninteresting content. High school students 322 (68.5%) both gender have positive attitudes toward PE, and there were significant differences in attitude between male and female students. The results showed that 26 (15.0%) males and 122 (41.1%) females have negative attitudes. And 106 (61.3%) male students versus 82 (27.6%) female students practice sport outside the school and male students were also more positive about continuing practicing exercise in the future. The main factors contributing to the students' positive attitudes included curriculum (76.0%), self-perception (70.9%), teacher (59.1%), class atmosphere (54.0%), and facilities (36.0%), and there was no significant relationship between students' gender, track of study, and their attitudes toward PE. Conclusion: The study concludes that negative attitudes are more among female students as a result of the PE facilities and class atmosphere. This affected their participation in outdoor PE activities. Several recommendations are offered: 1. The secondary schools' PE programs need to consider offering students the opportunity to choose some of their PE activities in consultation with their PE teachers. 2. Students must be provided adequate time to maintain good health from the activities in which they can perform for a lifetime. Therefore PE hours need to be extended. Policy implications: It is very important to establish/ review policies and guidelines that define and set up the purpose, goals, and safety of PE programs. Develop policies that permit and encourage all students to participate in enjoyable physical activities at least 30 to 60 minutes per day, as an essential part of the school day. Establish policies that promote enjoyable life long physical activity. Ensuring safety policies are very important in fitness activities. The study attempts to recommend several related policy implications in relation to different sectors in the country. The results of this study can be generalized to all governmental schools, and offer an informative foundation for further studies. Key words: Physical education, Attitudes, Gender, Track of the study.