A Short Story OF The Anglo-Chinese School
Kampar
THE Anglo-Chinese
School Kampar, was founded in April, 1903 in the sixteenth
year of the reign of Sultan Sir Idris Murshid Al-Azzam Shah G.C.M.G.,
G.C.V.O. It was
not a very eventful year in Malayan history but the little mining town of Kampar English School
This
School began as small one-class school, under the auspices of the Chinese
Methodist Church, in the Chinese Church building which stood on a little mound
in a two-acre plot about half away from the town to the Railway Station on the
left side of the road (prior to the deviation).
Mr. Ling Ching Mi was the first teacher and the roll during 1903 was 45.
The Government gave a special grant towards the teacher’s salary and reported
favourably on the work of the School.
Mr.
Phong Ah Sang was the next teacher in 1904. He did faithful work, and the
enrolment increased to 70. In 1906, Rev.W.E.
Horley reported to the Methodist Annual Conference: “ Our
school here is growing by leaps and bounds………….I am sure that we could easily
collect enough money to put up a fine building. Kampar is raising town and is
growing rapidly. ”
On
account of World War II all available records relating to the early history of
the School were lost and even the Methodist Conference Minutes make no mention
of the school from 1907-1909 and 1913-1915. But the school grew steadily from
year to year until in 1909 an assistant teacher was employed. Besides, Rev. W.E.
Horley, the founder, such pioneers as Dr. H.E.L. Luering, Dr. W.G. Shellabear
and Rev. G.F. Pykett were associated with the School in their capacity as
Presiding Elder (District Superintendent), and early headmasters included Messrs.
Phang Ah Nam, Kwan Tien Poh, Yew Choy
Seng and Lim Eng Chuan from 1906-1915.
Messrs.
Lo Wei Kuang and Chong Wan Fook, two of
our most senior teachers, received their early education in the School
conducted in the Chinese
Church
As
mentioned above, in 1906 Rev.W.E. Horley
had urged the necessity of collecting funds for a new building, but it
was not until ten years later, when Rev.G.F. Pykett complained that the Chinese Church
Rev.
Paul Ponniah was appointed Headmaster in 1915. By 1917 a sum of $8,000 had been
collected or promised towards the erection of a $20,000 building and the
Government had approved a grant of $10,000. The Hon. Mr. Eu Tong Sen, O.B.E. donated $3,000, and Rev.
Horley, who had spent many wearisome afternoons in Kampar collecting
subscriptions for the building, was able
to report to the Malaya Annual Conference that a fine site had been acquired
and building operation would soon commence.
At this time the problem of accommodation had become rather acute as the
enrolment had passed the century mark—112, and Tow Kay Teng Kong Chen shifted
the
Mr. Paul Ponniah
1915-1917
Owing
to World War I things did not work out exactly as planned. In
February 1918 Rev. W.E. Horley reported that as a result of the rise in
the cost of building materials, the building, which in ordinary times would
have cost $22,000, would cost $32,000.
Plans were altered to a new contract for $24,700 plus $ 2,300 for
furniture making a total amount of
$27,000. A sum of $23,012 had been
collected and the rest promised. Rev. W.E. Horley noted that the new building
would accommodate 320 pupils and advocated the purchase of an adjoining
European house and compound for a Missionary residence. When this residence was purchased it was used
for a few months during the transfer of the school from the old site to its
present one.
Mr.
Paul Ponniah, Headmaster since 1915, served in Kampar till 1917 and left for India
The
dreams and aspirations of Rev. W.E. Horley and G.F. Pykett, backed by countless hours of hard
work, soon became a reality with the opening of the first brick building built
on land donated by the Hon. Mr. Eu Tong Sen. In this effort Mr. Horley was
assisted by Mr. Chan Yin Tit, J.P., then Chief Clerk of the Mines Department,
Kampar.
The
Hon. Mr. R.G. Watson, then British
Resident, performed the opening ceremony, and some idea of the enthusiasm that
marked the occasion may be gleaned from contemporary newspaper reports which
state that the town was en fete for the event, that special trains
brought visitors to Kampar, that the Hon. Mr. Eu Tong San threw open his magnificent
residence on Coronation Hill and extended hospitality to all visitors, and that
a procession of school children marched through the town headed by the State
Band.
The
chief item of the celebration was the First Athletic Sports organized under the
direction of Mr. T.W. Hinch, and the new
Principle, the Rev. C. J. Hall who, with Mrs. Hall had arrived in Kampar after
the 1919 Malaya Annual Conference. Rev. C.J.
Hall’s Opening Celebration Committee included among others such leading men as
Messrs. Lee Tien Siew and Ong Chong Hui. Football fans will note with interest
that Mr. Wong Hean Kim, one of the senior members of the Mission
staff, then one of the staff of the A.C.S., Ipoh
Rev.
C.J. Hall left in 1920 and Mr. T.K. Cheong succeeded him as Headmaster. The
latter was an able organizer and administrator, and his 12 year period was
noted for its consistent standard of classroom work while the extra-curricular
activities consisted of football, basketball and scouting. In 1921 the Kampar
Union Epworth League was formed with Mr.Cheong as President.
Scouting
was still in its infancy in Perak, and in 1924 the first Kampar Scout Troop was
formed with the late Mr. Lee Chak Pong as Scout Master and the late Mr. Yeoh
Cheang Toh and Mr. Chong Wan
Fook as Assistant of Scout Masters. Our
present Principal, Mr. V. D. Kuppusamy, Mr. Wong Hean Kim and the late Mr. Oh Kay Beng
assisted the troop as Honorary Scout Instructors.
Mr. T.K. Cheong
1920-1933
The
Scout Troop grew rapidly and many and varied were the distinctions it achieved.
In the next 15 years the School won the Latham Shield for signaling open to all
troops in Perak seven times and was runner-up once. In 1929, the then District
Scout Commissioner of Perak , Mr. H.R. Hertslet, chose the Troop to represent
Perak at the Selangor State Jamboree.
The Troop led the Selangor Scouts to the Cenotaph to celebrate Armistice
Day and marched at the head of the Selangor Troops to the Jamboree Ground at
the Stadium. In his report for 1929 the
District Commissioner cited the
First Kampar Troop for all-round efficiency among scout troops in Perak.
Minutes
of successive Malaya Annual Conference reported favourably on the work being
done in Kampar. In 1923 “ the School was continuing to prosper ” , the
next year the Kampar Mission Station was referred to by Mr. Horley as “ one
of our bright spots ”, and the able
leadership of Mr. T.K. Cheong came in for mention in the Annual Conference
Minutes from 1925 to 1928.
During
all the time, while the School was growing rapidly , from 247 in 1922 to 352 in
1928, Mr. Horley concentrated on the work of collecting funds to pay off the
debt incurred on the main building. In 1925 he noted that a friend had promised
$2,000 for a new wing , and by 1928 plans had
already been drawn for an extension of the building, but these plans did
not materialize until eight years later.
In
February , 1933 Mr. T.K. Cheong was transferred to Parit Buntar , and this
transfer marked the end of the longest term
of service of any Headmaster in the history of the School. During his
tenure of office the school enrolment had increased from 141 to 354, and a
number of extra-curricular and religious activities had been introduced.
Mr.Yong Ngim Djin succeeded Mr. T.K. Cheong
as Headmaster in
February,1933, and his stewardship was characterized by all-round
development. Under his capable leadership, the hall-mark of
which was personal example rather than precept, the School
distinguished itself both in the classroom and on the playing field. It
was an important,
interesting and active period marked by
many
outstanding events in the history of the School.
In 1934 a new tiffin shed and a teachers’ room were erected.
This year also marked another significant event:
Mr Chong Wah Fook, District Scout Master
Mr. Yong Ngim Djin was decorated with the Medal of Merit
1933 - 1939 by H.E. Sir Cecil Clementi, the High
Commissioner, who visited the
School for the occasion.
In the Perak Inter-A.C.S. Games Competition the School emerged champions
of the Hockey Division and runner-up in the whole competition tying with
Sitiawan. During this period the school soccer team had the distinction of
being the winning team or the runner-up in the Kampar District Football League.
In Cricket and Hockey, the School held its own against some of the best school
and club teams in the State, and as a climax of the sporting activities came
the successful tour of Penang in 1938 by the
School Football and Hockey Teams. Further, swimming parties of boys and girls
to the Eu Tong Sen Gardens, Chong Sin Swimming Pool or the Talam Mine Swimming
Pool were a weekly feature of school life. Three Swimming Carnivals were held
during this period.
The year 1936 marked another milestone in the history of the School. On
October 10th, the long awaited $11,000 annexe which had been built
under the direction of Mr. Yong Ngim Djin, was opened by the Hon. Mr. Marcus
Rex - 17 years after the main building was opened by another British Resident -
the Hon. Mr. R.G. Watson.
Mr. Bell opened the proceedings
with a short speech in which he took the opportunity of publicly expressing his
thanks to the people of Kampar for their generosity, and the School staff for
their hard work, especially Messrs. Lo Wei Kuang and Chong Wan Fook, who had
done yeoman service in the collection of funds and the supervision of building
operations.
Mr. Yong Ngim Djin, speaking at this function, mentioned that the
occasion was unique, and that the letters A.C.S., stood for the watch-words of
the School, namely : “ Ambition, Character, Service. ”
The year 1936 also saw the
publication of the Kacsian, the
magazine of the School. It has appeared regularly ever since, except during the
war years and the two years immediately following (1941-1946).
In 1937, the year of the
Coronation of His Majesty the late King GeorgeVI, and H.M. Queen Elizabeth, a
School Certificate Class was formed as an experiment, and 12 out of 13 passed
the examination. The S.C. Class was continued in 1938 and 1939 when we had over
75% passes, but in 1940 and 1941 it was discontinued on the instructions of the
Education Department. The Junior Cambridge Class which was started in 1934 had
during its first three years 100% passes, and in the fourth year it had 94%
passes. A significant innovation was the organization of classes in Malay and
Chinese, and Mr. Ngim Djin himself taught the Malay classes.
In the field of sports our crowning
achievement was the capture of the Too Joo Lim Shield presented to the Champion School
With the transfer to Singapore
of Mr. Yong Njim Djin on the
10th of May 1939 , an eventful period in the history of
the School came to an end. Mr. Ngim Djin, during his six years’ headmastership,
was responsible for raising considerably the prestige of the School by the
distinctions it had achieved in its scholastic work as well as its sports and
scouting activities.
Rev. and Mrs. D.P. Coole, who were appointed
by Bishop Edwin
E. Lee at the 1939 Conference
arrived in Kampar in May of that year. They
were
the second Missionary couple to be posted
to
Kampar, and very soon they endeared
themselves
to both pupils and staff with their
informal manner,
amiable disposition and infectious
enthusiasm. The
high standard the School had achieved in
previous
years, both in the classroom and the
playing field,
was maintained. Mrs. Coole introduced
singing and
music with great vigour and religious
education
received added impetus from both Mr.&
Mrs. Coole.
At the All - Malayan Institute held in Ipoh
the School Choir earned compliments all
round and 1939-1941
was acclaimed the best choir of the
Methodist schools
in the country.
The School relay team achieved a unique distinction at the 1939 Malayan
Sports held in Kuala Lumpur
Early in 1941, practically every member of the staff joined one of the
Passive Defence Services and rallied to the need of the hour, and carried out
various duties until they were disbanded on 23rd December. Units of
the Malayan Volunteer Infantry occupied the School on the night of 22nd December, 1941 ,
and the career of the A.C.S. as an
educational was interrupted for a period of nearly four years - until
liberation came in September,1945.
From 1942 to the middle of
1944, the school buildings were used by the Japanese Garrison, and in the
second half of 1944, a unit of the Indian National Army occupied them until the
Japanese surrender. The furniture and equipment were looted or used a firewood,
and when liberation came the buildings were left empty and in a badly
dilapidated condition. Soon after the liberation in August, 1945, the buildings
were occupied for a few weeks by members of the M.P.A.J.A.
In August 1945, as soon as the
liberation forces landed in Malaya , pre-war
teachers met under the leadership of Mr. Wong Hean Kim, and decided to make
arrangements to re-open the School, but all plans had to be deferred until an
advance party of British Troops reaches Kampar a few weeks later.
The
School re-opened in October,1945 with Mr. Wong Hean Kim as
Acting Principal, and soon classes from
Primary I to Std. VII were
functioning. The B.M.A. gave a Rehabilitation Loan of $1,420 with
which Mr. Wong Hean Kim carried essential repairs, and furnished the
classrooms with temporary furniture. These were difficult days
because of the large numbers of pupils seeking admission to the
School, the absence of necessary documents and records, over-sized
classes, the lack of text-books both for pupils and teachers, and a
shortage
of equipment, but Mr. Wong Hean Kim faced these
difficulties with a great deal of courage and considerable success.
Mr. Wong Hean Kim
1945 – 1946
In January,1947 Mr. Wong Hean
Kim was transferred to Sitiawan, and Mr. V.D. Kuppusamy, who had been in service
in Kampar in 1918, 1923 and 1924, succeeded him. A widely-travelled and
experienced per-war Principal, who had served in Ipoh and elsewhere for over 29
years, soon completed the task of rehabilitating the buildings with a second
Government Rehabilitation Loan of $9,900 and a special grant of $6,837.60 from the
Methodist Crusade Fund. New furniture were put in, classrooms were decorated, various
additional facilities were provided, and the school assumed an appearance never
known before, but probably Mr. Kuppusamy’s work in Kampar will be best
remembered for the pioneering efforts in the field of audio-visual education, and
the enrichment of the curriculum.
In 1947 the Kacsian was revived after a lapse of seven
years, and the magazine has filled a very important place in the life of the
School. In the same year Speech Day was inaugurated combined with an Exhibition
of Art and Handwork, and this has become an annual feature. A public address
system was installed in the Office connected to the school radio and to every
class by means of extension Malaya . When the
Goh Khoon Buildings were acquired later a separate broadcasting system was
installed in these buildings as well. (A copy of Kacsian 1947 was sent to The National Archive.)
The year 1948 saw the re-opening
of the School Certificate Class with 12 pupils. Since then these classes have
been small, and sometimes the human material has been below quality, but except
for 1950 and 1952 the results have been comparatively good ( 1948 - 83.3% ;
1949 - 92.9% ; 1950 -50% ; 1951 - 94.7% ; 1952 - 57% ). Since the restoration of the School
Certificate Class, 6 pupils have succeeded in obtaining scholarships or
bursaries to institutions of higher learning.
In keeping with modern
educational development, a Science Laboratory was established in 1948 with very
limited equipment and Science was taught in Stds. VI and VII. Since then the
Laboratory has been improved, and now it is housed in a separate building, and
it possesses some very up-to-date equipment. In 1950, the School Certificate
Class completed the four-year course in three years, and all candidates passed
their examination.
The steadily increasing
enrolment caused serious problems of accommodation, but these were partly
solved by the leasing of the Goh Khoon property for 3 years. In 1951 a campaign
for funds was launched for the purchase of this property. Parents, pupils and
teachers co-operated whole-heartedly, and before the end of the year a deposit
of $30,000 was paid to the owners of the property towards its purchase price of
$70,000/-. With the help of a special grant of $40,000 from Government in
January, 1952, the purchase was completed.
Since the acquisition of the property a total $34,974.33 has been spent
on alterations, repairs, painting and colour-washing, and now the Goh Khoon
Buildings form a very valuable and useful addition to the School, besides
providing much-needed facilities for its steady expansion. It is worth noting
that the one-acre plot at the back of the property is the only little
playground of our own.
In 1949 authority was obtained from the Education department to build up
the School into a two-stream
institution, and Malay was re-introduced from Stds. VI - VIII, but the next
year, in keeping the decision of the Federal Legislative Council, this subject
was taught from Stds. III - VIII.
The last six years have been outstanding for the number of school
societies organized for the benefit of the pupils, and probably the largest and
most useful is the Kinema Club, formed in 1949, which now has a membership of
nearly 1,500 (including M.A.S. members.). Through the efforts of this Club a
number of film strips and 16mm films have been acquired for the Film Library. Other
activities organized during the period are (a) a School Museum
In the short space of six years the Principal
has succeeded in (a) restoring the School Certificate Class and keeping it
going with comparatively good results ; (b) establishing an up-to-date Science
Laboratory ; (c) building a new canteen ; (d) acquiring the Goh Khoon Buildings
and renovating them ; (e) equipping the School with all the latest teaching
aids ; (f) stimulating interest in art, handwork and needlework ; (g) extending
the sports activities so as to enable every pupil to participate in one or more
games ; (h) in raising the standard of the School and enabling it to keep
abreast of modern educational progress and maintaining not only a high standard
of discipline but also a spiritual and moral tone by his inspiring and
challenging chapel talks.
Under Mr. V.D.Kuppusamy’s leadership the
School has seen its most rapid advancement in all departments of scholastic
activity, for as Mr. R. Sidney, Editor of Young Malayans aptly remarked “ The personality of the Principal is
everywhere ”. An indefatigable worker ,with abundant love for his profession, a
strong personality, and wide experience of men and affairs, Mr. V.D. Kuppusamy
has made his influence felt in the School, which he has built up from a small
town institution to “one of the three best Methodist Schools in the entire
country”, as a Mission authority publicly declared
a few years ago.
 Mr. V. D. Kuppusamy 1947 - |
In
concluding this review of the manner in which the School has
discharged its educational and spiritual
task during the last 50 years,
according to the world-wide programme of the Methodist Church
cannot help feeling that, within the framework of Malayan educational
policy, and inspired by the vision, courage, devotion and faith of the
early pioneers, the School has endeavoured to equip all those who
have passed through its portals not only with knowledge, but a genuine
thirst for knowledge that will enable them to regard education as a life
process ; to develop through games, sports and other extra-curricular
activities a consciousness of a healthy body and a wholesome mind as
a glorification of youth ; and lastly to lay a sound moral and spiritual
foundation that will stand as a bulwark against life’s temptations and
vicissitudes.
