THE Penang government is ready to assist the state Education Department should the department sees the need to respond to the closure of the Convent schools which sit on the land that belongs to the Infant Jesus Sisters (IJS) Malaysia.
It was reported that three schools – SK Convent Light Street, SM Convent Light Street and SM Convent Pulau Tikus – would be closed and the land returned to IJS Malaysia.
SM Convent Light Street and SM Convent Pulau Tikus will be closed in 2023, while SK Convent Light Street will be shut in 2024.
IJS Malaysia had requested for the return of the Convent schools’ premises and the Education Ministry granted its approval in 2018.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the Penang government would leave the matter to the state Education Department.
“The Penang Education Department had said it before that surrounding schools are able to cater to the enrolment of students, in the event that the Convent Light Street schools stop (functioning) as national schools.
“We shall leave it to the department to decide. We can find a land if the department is interested to relocate the affected schools or to set up a new school; land that had been surrendered to the state government by developers over the years.
“We have to look for a suitable land because sometimes location matters,” he told reporters after opening the Courtyard by Marriott Penang in George Town today.
Chow said that the state Education Department would understand the situation better as it has the enrolment figures and other details.
An English daily has reported that IJS had found a suitable education provider to operate the premises of the Convent Light Street.
Lady Superior of the Society of Saint Maur Sister Mary Theresa Chua was quoted as saying that the education provider would open a private international school using part of the Convent Light Street’s premises.
“The co-ed school, to start as soon as approvals have been obtained from the authorities, will initially offer Year One to Year 10 classes leading to the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) with an entrepreneurial component,” she said.
It was reported that the IGCSE qualification is equivalent to the GCSE in the United Kingdom and is globally recognised.
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Ahmad Adil Muhamad
Video by Darwina Mohd Daud