Three mission schools to be torn down

They will be making way for housing development.

St Mark School field

St Mark’s Secondary School Butterworth

St George Balik Pulau

Pykett Methodist

GEORGE TOWN: Three historical Christian missionary schools in Penang will be closed within the next decade and their buildings will be demolished to make way for housing development.

However, a civic group is trying to save them. The Penang Citizens Awareness Chant Group is calling for state intervention to preserve the St Mark’s Secondary School in Butterworth, the St George Primary and Secondary Schools in Balik Pulau and the Pykett Methodist Primary School in George Town.

The group’s coordinator, Yan C Lee, described the school buildings as heritage structures and urged the state to intervene to maintain them for educational purposes.

He said the Pykett Methodist building, for instance, could be turned into a centre for autistic students catering not only to Malaysian needs but also those of neighbouring countries.

“We don’t understand why school lands are being sold to developers,” he said.

According to Penang Education Director Osman Hussain the school buildings would cease to exist by 2024.

He said the church landowners were taking back their lands for other development. It is learnt that the redevelopment involves housing projects.

Osman said St George and St Mark’s schools stopped enrolling students a few years ago and Pykett Methodist would follow suit next year.

“We can’t do much about it if the landowners want back their lands,” he said. “We will find alternate lands to replace the schools to cater to the needs of the neighbourhoods.”

The 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. That is expected to be in 2017.

St George School was established by missionaries from the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus.

The school traces its history 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.

Osman revealed that his department was also in the process of locating new lands to build replacement school buildings for the St Mark’s and Pykett Methodist schools.

He said the department could request for a parcel of land on the current air force base in Teluk Air Tawar 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 look for another piece of land.

St Mark’s School currently has some 1,000 students studying from Form One to 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 St Mark’s school building is ours,” Osman said. “We have asked the landowner to give us 10 years from now to move the school to a new building. We are looking at various lands, including the air base.”

The Pykett Methodist Primary School was founded by B H Balderstone as the Methodist Boys’ School in 1891. It has a rich history. G F Pykett, who took over from Balderstone in 1892, housed the school in a row of shop houses in Carnarvon Street. The school moved to a building in Chulia Street in 1920, and then was relocated to Suffolk House in 1945 before it was finally moved to its current location in Westland Road in 1957.

Among Pykett Methodist’s ex-headmasters was D S Ramanathan, the first mayor of George Town and founding chairman of the Pan Malayan Labour Party.

Osman said closure of the school, which currently has some 200 pupils, would be phased across five years.

“We are looking for new land to build a new school building,” he said.