GEORGE TOWN, Nov 4 ― The seven interconnected buildings of 165-year-old Convent Light Street (CLS) girls’ school, that is headed for closure, are listed as Category 1 heritage buildings, George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI) has explained.

The GTWHI, that manages the heritage zone in the historic town, insisted that there are very strict guidelines involving such buildings, amid concerns of developments on the site of the country’s oldest missionary girls’ school.

“These buildings can only be restored to its original structures and cannot be demolished or changed in any way,” its built environment and monitoring manager Muhammad Hijas Sahari told Malay Mail Online.

There are over 80 Category 1 heritage buildings in the George Town World Heritage zone, and CLS is one of it.

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Category 1 heritage buildings are defined as buildings or monuments and sites of exceptional interest and must be conserved as original.

Repairs carried out on these buildings can only use authentic traditional ways of building methods and materials.

Muhammad Hijas added that CLS is located within the heritage core zone and is subjected to the George Town World Heritage Site Special Area Plan (SAP) guidelines.

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“Under the SAP, the CLS land and buildings are classified for educational institution purposes so even if the landowners sell the land, the whole site can only be used for educational institutions such as private schools or colleges,” he said.

He said the land and buildings cannot be converted for other usage such as for hotels, residential houses or shopping malls.

“The CLS land is listed as Category 2 so the landowner can build other buildings on the land but again, it has to comply with the SAP guidelines on design and height which must not be more than 18 metres,” he said.

Category 2 is for buildings and sites of special interest that should be preserved and most of the pre-war shophouses in George Town are under this category.

Muhammad Hijas said there are no restrictions to stop the landowner from selling the land but the new landowner will still have to comply with the SAP guidelines.

An old picture of Convent Light Street circa 1900. ― Picture courtesy of Marcus Langdon
An old picture of Convent Light Street circa 1900. ― Picture courtesy of Marcus Langdon

He said there are existing historical relics within the CLS compound such as the Francis Light Well, the Beeham Combe Hill Bell and scribblings on the wall left by prisoners of war from the USS Grenadier during World War II.

Convent Light Street was founded by the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus Mission in 1852 and the Sisters bought the Government House in Light Street in 1859 to expand the school.

The building stood on 2.8-hectare piece of land, and over the years the Sisters expanded the school to include a hall, a chapel, dormitories, kitchens, cloisters and classrooms.

The former missionary school used to be an orphanage, accepting orphans from all backgrounds and races, and a boarding school for girls from wealthy families.

The school changed to the Malaysian education system in the 1970s and has since followed the standardised Malaysian education system.

Yesterday, Malay Mail Online reported that CLS and two other mission girls’ schools are facing closure as landowner The Sisters of the Infant Jesus was taking back the plots of land on which they are located.

The Penang state government then said it will not approve any construction plans for the lands of three missionary schools should they be sold to developers.

The Roman Catholic religious institute has since assured the public it does not intend to sell the land and buildings for redevelopment.