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Friday, April 3, 2015

State govt’s hands tied on closure of missionary schools

The missionary schools will be torn down because they sit on private land which has been sold for redevelopment.
pykettGEORGE TOWN: The Penang government is hapless and helpless to stop the impending closure of three missionary schools because the schools sit on private land.
State Executive Councillor in charge of Family and Community Development, Arts and Heritage Chong Eng said the schools were all under the purview of the federal Education Ministry.
“So we can’t stop the planned closure by 2024,” said Chong Eng, who chairs the state Chinese and Missionary Schools Committee.
The three affected missionary schools – SM St Marks Secondary School in Butterworth; St George, which houses both primary and secondary schools, in Balik Pulau; and SRK Pykett Methodist primary school in George Town are historical colonial icons.
The schools have stopped taking in new pupils in 2013 to prepare for their eventual closure.
Penang Education Department Director Osman Hussain said previously that the owners had sold the schools’ land to developers for redevelopment.
He revealed that his department was identifying new parcels of land to build replacement school buildings for the St Mark’s and Pykett Methodist schools’ existing pupils.
He said the department could request for a parcel of land on the current air force base in Teluk Air Tawar to relocate St Marks school if the Federal Government finally decides to relocate the base to Ara Kuda.
If the air base plan hits a snag, he said, the department would have no choice but to look for another site.
St Mark’s School currently has some 1,000 students in Form One through Form Six.
It is learnt that the Anglican Church, which was established in Butterworth in 1885, had already sold the school field to a housing developer.
The Pykett Methodist school founded by Reverend B H Balderstone in 1891, had been relocated several times before it was erected on its current plot of land in Jalan Westland in 1957.
St George School was established by missionaries from the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.
The school dates back to the late 19th century, when classes were held within the compound of the church. It was then known as St Anthony’s School. The present school buildings date back to 1936.
The education department has already started its project to construct two new school buildings to replace the St George schools.
The current buildings will be torn down once the new primary and secondary schools are operational in 2017.

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