Closure of century-old convent marks the end of an era

SMK Convent Pulau Tikus (CPT) and SM Convent Light Street (CLS) closed their doors on the island after a tearful ceremony marked the end of their long history.

CPT was established in 1922 in a small building next to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, while CLS was founded in 1852 and was the oldest all-girl school in Southeast Asia. The schools’ last batch of students completed their SPM examinations in March 2023.

The founding of Convent Light Street

In 1852, three French Catholic nuns from the Holy Infant Jesus Mission founded CLS, which is also the oldest girls’ school in South-East Asia, standing proudly on the present site within the UNESCO Heritage Zone since 1859.

At the request of Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Boucho in George Town, the three sailed from Singapore to Penang Island and settled in an attap hut near the Church of the Assumption at Church Street, where they taught during the day and sewed clothes at night to raise funds. With the growing number of children under their care, the nuns bought the Anglo-Indian-style building and surrounding 2.8ha compound in 1859.

CLS is where Sir Stamford Raffles worked for a time. The field forming part of the compound was later sold to the neighbouring St Xavier’s Institution in Penang, while the convent functioned as a boarding school. Over the next 80 years, the school continued to expand, and an Old Chapel was erected, alongside cloisters and classrooms.

The beginning of Convent Pulau Tikus

CPT is an all-girls school set up in Pulau Tikus by Catholic missionaries in the early 20th century. These missionaries were nuns who served the Eurasian parish of the Church of the Immaculate Conception before the school was set up. Initially, CPT was established to educate girls in the northern suburbs of George Town until 1950 when it moved to a new building on a purchased land a stone’s throw away. With a fully-fledged secondary school status in 1959, it catered to students until the important Form Five examinations.

In the 1970s, all schools in Malaysia were brought under the national education umbrella, and the number of Sisters from the Infant Jesus Sisters (IJS) religious order who founded the school declined steadily over the decades. However, their presence was felt until at least the 1990s, and they served as the school’s headmistresses until 1968.

CPT had a parent-teacher association established in 1973, and they began fundraising for a school building fund. Donations from different sources were received, and a school hall located on the upper level of Block C was built. The hall served the school well and hosted CPT’s last batch of SPM candidates in February and March 2023.

The everlasting legacy

The school buildings of Convent Light Street (CLS) and Convent Pulau Tikus (CPT) are heritage premises. The Government House was built by Captain Francis Light. When Penang was elevated to the Fourth Presidency of India, the building housed the Governor’s Office and Council Chambers. Raffles, who went to Singapore and later became its founder, spent much of his time attending to his duties at this building.

Today, the legacy of the Convent schools lives on in the hearts and memories of their former students, many of whom went on to successful careers in various fields. The closure of the schools marks the end of an era in the history of education in Penang and Southeast Asia.

However, the heritage buildings of both schools are set to be preserved and repurposed, with plans for the CLS building to be transformed into a heritage hotel, while the CPT building may be used as a community centre.

In conclusion, the SM Convent Pulau Tikus and SM Convent Light Street have a long and storied history as institutions of learning for girls in Penang and Southeast Asia. Founded by Catholic nuns in the 19th and 20th centuries, these schools played a crucial role in shaping the lives and careers of countless young women over the decades.

While the closure of the schools is a bittersweet moment for many, the preservation of their heritage buildings ensures that their legacy will continue to be celebrated and remembered for generations to come.