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| Malaysian Mission Schools News Archive Sunday Star, Star Education, July 4, 2004 Next to make their way here were the Catholic missionaries. In 1852, the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus and the La Salle Brothers started a school for girls and another for boys respectively in Penang. Today, the majority of mission schools are those started by the Catholic missionaries. Schools such as St John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur, St Michael's in Ipoh, St Paul's in Seremban and Convent Light Street in Penang are now all shining examples of the legacy of excellence in education left by these missionaries. In 1891, the Methodists opened their first school in Malaysia – the Anglo-Chinese School in Penang, which saw great success. Over in Sabah, the Catholics opened their first primary school – St Mary's Primary School in Sandakan – in 1883. A Protestant school for boys, St Michael's Boys School, was opened in 1888. By the start of the 20th century the Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans had schools in Sabah and Sarawak. Smaller missions including the Borneo Evangelical Mission and Seventh Day Adventists also established schools in the two states. The boom period there was from the late 1940s to 1970s, when schools were set up in almost every district. So successful were mission schools in Malaysia that prior to World War I, over 74% of children attending English-medium schools were in mission schools. However, in the last three decades or so the mission influence has somewhat diminished. In an agreement with the Government in the early 1970s, school authorities agreed to be partially-aided, with the Education Ministry supplying and paying teachers and also covering basic operational costs while schools retained ownership of their land and buildings. The challenge for the schools now is to continue its consultative approach in working with the ministry as they strive to preserve the legacy passed down from the golden years of mission education in the country.
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