Pioneering dforts in Educat io n in

Ku ala lumpur from 18 75 till 1900

p,~puud by

J. S. I-h::-;R\'

(111 btlwlj 0/ til, Mimstry 0/ Edur(ltiOll ,

T he pc: riod 1875- 1900 ill chosen purdy from the point of \'irw of t he development of Kuala Lumpur as directly related 10

it, l)()pu13lion gro .... "h

T his r3pitl expansion of popu lation was ll5 followlI:

l8iS - 2,000 1880 - 4 ,000 1890 - 20,000 IBY5 - 25,000 1900 - 30,000

In 1875, the ruter of Sclall~or was Sultan Abd ul Salll:'uJ , j. G. D:u 'idson was the n rilish Rt"SidcrlI and Yap Ail Loy was Captai n China in Kuab Lumpur. T he

capital of the state was lIlo\'ed from Klang to Kua la LUIIlI)1IT in ) g80.

In 1882, a Koran class was held in one of the houses on the left b:ank of the Gombak Rivcr fo r :'. lal:1\' chiltlrcll who lin"d in the an-a. Children' from Kampong Hawa si· tuated in 1:1.\'3 St rl'C! (I he a rCl betwl'Cn the present i\ lountbatten Road :md ;-'l;.l ar Street ) al:io attended the Koran class fo·, ahout J or .. hours daily.

An d tlerh· Chinl'S(> miner who .... as educated in' China and 100 old 10 work in the mine:i, laught Chinese children near Yap Ah I.oy's (jardell House using th t:

" 'amponc Umw, an , .,·trnsion of lila/ay Strut, in about IINO.

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Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia

Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia

I

Hakh di :a lect. Five subjects were laught, namely:

San tsu chin - 3-word sentence. (i'-otl.l!.) Pai Chia Sin - 100 surnaml'S . (7l:;;:tl)

Chen T s Wen - Essay of 1,000 words, (-t-!f)l;: ) each character being

Sen tong tz (Wi:H)

Chao Suan (1",.11-)

a different one. - Poems, nursery rhymes

written by a gcnius. - Accounting, using the

abbacus.

In IS80, Tamil was taught in the home of Doraisamy Pillay situ:atcd in Jalln Tuanku Abdul Rahman ncar the present Bilal Restaur:ant.

The GOI'eTlllllenl built :l school in High Street ncar Yap Ah Loy's Garden House costing 5550.00 :and began its first session in Januarv, 1885 with cleven pupils. some of whom 'had earlier attended the class in one of the chinese houses . The attendance had risen to thirt y by 1886. There was some dia~reement among the Chinese Tl'Sidents about the usc of the Hakka dialect as a medium of instruction. By 1890 the attend:allce h:ad f:allen to IS.

In 1890. Rev . Frederick Haifll'S c-stablish­cd a "Government English School" in \!alar Street. In 1892 the school had 40 pupils of whom 25 were Chinese, 3 T amil, 2 \Ialar, 2 Singh:alC"SCand 6 Eurasian . The Headmaster was G . W. Hcpponst:all.

The Koran cl ass ncar Gombak river was absorbed into the first \Ialay School which was on the site of the present building hous­ing the Techanical Division of the \linistr~' of Education. There were d el'en pupils : the Raja J\ l uda of Sclangor, who later be­ca me Sultan Sulaiman Shah, eight sons of Rajas, one of whom was the son of Raja Laut. and twO sons of Sheikhs.

;1 ~~~erH1~;~d"3 1~~llt~\1Ig~~I:~u; 8;;n;~d t~~ Governor of the Straits Settlements Sir Cecil C. Smith \\Tote, "the exertions of those who ha\'e had charge of the various Districts of my country, and the fir.;t measures of my illustrious friend, have resulted in the esta­blishment of Malay Schools under Govern­ment tt·aehers in every village; thus the children of my people are instructed for

their welfare in this world and the future admin istration is strengthened".

The mo\'ing spirits for better education were Suit an Abdul Samad, Yap Kwan Scng, (Captain China), his friend Loke Yew and Thamboos.amy Pilla),. There was a balance of 53, 188.00 collected in 1887 on the occa­sion of Queen Victoria's Jubik-e. The British Resident 1\1r. Treacher promised 55,000.00 from gO\'ernment funds. Sultan Abdul Samad and the three sponsors each ga\"e 51,000.00. The foundation stone was laid by 1\1rs. Treacher on 14th August, 1893. Because of its connection with the Jubilee Fund the school was I..-.alled the "Victoria Institution". 102 pupils includ­ing the pupils from Malay Street and the \bln)" School in Gomb:ak moved into the new buildings in High Stn.-et (later used for the Technicl College and now the Panggong Derama), on 30th July, 189 ... . The school hours were from 9.00 a.m. till 3.45 p.m. Some of the pupils used to come by train from Klan/.: , Tanjong l\lalim and Scremban. In 1874 5Cholar­ships from the Malay to the English School lI"ere introduced. And in 1887 any boy who passed Standard IV in the Malay School could get a frec place in an English School. In 1893 a Federal Inspector of Schools was appointed.

When the Inspl"'dor of Schools !l.h. Haines opened the Mala)" Vernacular School in Bandar, he found th at the premises wert: lent by H. H. the Raja Muda and it was furni shed with equipment at His Highness' expe nse . \\Ir. Haines found 52 boys pre­sent out of 53. The bo)"s were well dressed and took great interest in their work. There is no doubt that Sultan Abdul Sam.:ld, the Raja Muda and Raja Laut wer~ I'ery con­cerned about educat ion and werc alw:I)"1 kt·cn and \1;Uing to give :111)' :lssistanee . in order to provide schooling for the children.

The first Convel1t of the Hoi)' Inf:lllt Jeslls was opened in Kuala Lumpur in 1899. The sisters, who had v:linly searched for a house all day, :It last, about sc\'cn o'clock at night , were offered a building which stood in the midst of a large garden on the Ampang Road. This was the country house of a Chinese I:ldy who rented it to the sisters at 545/- per mOlllh. Owin$. to the number of orphans left by TamIl labourers who died during the construct ion

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Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia

Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia

'-~---- ---- -----TIlt sitt of tilt first Malay School (in Combak lant) . Tll r prtJfnt baiMiflg stall/is UlII/U-

original sitr.

of the railw:!\' lines at Kajang , thc Convent and we must do ollr best to dlO\'e!OP their became so c;owdcd and infcct.;:d witb sick- application and industry" l\1r. I-Iaines, nl$S that the Lady Superior was obliged the Inspecto r of Schools ~aiJ, "[n a word, 10 look around for another housc . After !ht." ' "ictoria Ins titution is popular. 'l't'ach-a great many difficulties . chief of which was illg is imparted ill Ihe pkasantcst way want of funds, had been overcome, Ihe possible. 1I0ys arc not forced into un-present bu ild ing, which was then known natural groovcs but han' c\'cry chance of as the Victoria HOlel was hough! frolll shining in the subjccl:I they arc fitted for" a rich Indian, Doraisamy.

The existing Methodist Boys' School in Kuala Lumpur was prect'ded by a small Anglo-Tamil School, which was opened by Dr. Kensett on july 6, 1897, in a small shop-housc in lJatu Road. There were only 3 bo)'s present at the opening but two years later the roll contained 37 names. The present school was formally opened on August 21, 1905 by Mr. H. Conway Belfield, the British Hcsident.

It was Tl'eord<.'d that "Education is r<.'-cei\'ing sJlecial attention throughout the State at the present time and the schools arc frequently visited by the Inspector of Schools ;lIld by the Yisi ting Teacher, which would appear 10 be the only satisfactory way of keeping them uJl to the Illark and rendering them thoroughly affective and ensuring that the exp{'nditur{' sanctioned by the govern men! is utilised 10 ilS (tllle'St extent"

It is hoped that thi ~ cursory glimpse of The Malay Vernacular School in Scupak carl\, education in Kuala Lumpur \\ill

was established in 1893. At firsl parents initIate a more intensivc study of the his tory were not tOO happy 300ut secular education of <.'ducation in the State of Seilingor not but gradually they bcg-JIl to recognisc the entirely b:lS{'d on P3St wriu{'n r{'eords but good work of the Malay School. On Speech after details are scrutinised and re-assessed Day 22nd December, 1896 at the \,ictoria after patient and painstaking interviews Institution, the Resident Mr. Rodger said, with old residents between the ages of "In a recent despatch the Seeretar~' of 70 and 1)0 in order that a correct pcrspectin' St3te drew special attention to tht! ad\'isa- is obtained, ?\ow that Malaysia is an bilit)' of offering scholarships to promising independent son'reign nation, all ollr tITorts Malay boys from the "crnacular schools. must contr i but~ towards the establishment We English arc the t.rustees of the l\lalays of a national identity.

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Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia

Hak Cipta Terpelihara ©1972 – Persatuan Sejarah Malaysia