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GEORGE TOWN: The Penang government said today that its offer of land to build a replacement school for Convent Light Street (CLS) is still on the table, but to date there has been no interest from the Ministry of Education.
CLS has decided to leave the national education system with its last group of students graduating under the system in 2024.
A private school will take over the facilities and offer programs based on a UK curriculum, the nuns who own the school said yesterday.
They cited high maintenance costs and low enrollment as reasons for exiting the national system.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government remained committed to finding an alternative plot of land for the school’s successor, to ensure students’ continuity in the national system, but only if the education ministry I wanted it.
“To date, no applications have been received. It is up to the ministry to decide.
“I understand that it has become a trend for schools in urban areas to register a decline in enrollment, and CLS is no different,” he said today on the sidelines of an event.
Yesterday, the order of the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus (SIJ), which runs CLS, said that while the new private school would maintain its identity, it would function as a co-ed institution.
However, he did not give any indication of what would happen to another school he owns: Convent Pulau Tikus (CPT), which runs the national program.
In 2017, SIJ had sought to bring back CLS, which teaches both at the primary and secondary levels, from the Ministry of Education. This led to speculation that the school could be permanently closed amid opposition from the state government and a strong body of alumni.
CLS was nationalized in 1971 and CPT, in 2005, with its operations controlled by the Ministry of Education.
Both schools stopped accepting students in 2018, with the last group of students graduating in 2024.
