Preparatory School, Kuala Kangsar (1913)
The Preparatory School is today often referred to ‘Sekolah Kechil’ of Malay College Kuala Kangsar. Mr. E.A.G Stuart was assigned to the Preparatory School to take care of the boys in these two calses, that is Standard 1 and Standard II with about 20 boys each. Entry to the college in Std 1 was limited to those aged between 10 and 13 who had passed Std IV in a malay school and they would spend their first two years in the Preparatory School to be prepared for the more rigorous life in the big school since 1909. The class nomenclature changed in 1936. What was previously Standard 1 became Form 1 but entry requirmenet remained the same. The Big School was only known as that in 1913 to denote the distinction between the two buildings.
Hubback’s Official Post/Role: Federal P.W.D Assistant Architect A.B Hubback F.R.I.B.A
Year Designed:1910
Year Completed: January 1913
Construction Supervisor: State Engineer PWD PErak, RON Anderson
Brief Architectural Description: Double-storey Neo-Classical building with Graeco-Roman elements wrapped in a shaded loggia on both floors. The layout of the building was for accommodating 40 boarders, with dormitories on the first floor and classrooms and dining hall on the ground floor. The bathoroms and cooking faciltiies were separate, but connected to the main building. Three rooms designated as classrooms, the smallests fo these rooms was used as the College Scout Room as well as the recreation room for the baorders as there were only then only two clases.
The Preparatory School had its won playing field where football was the most popular. After WWII British Military Administration used it as a dumping ground for the military junk and the boys could not have access. In 1947 scraps of armoured cars and Japanese tanks were removed. In 1948, the army stationed in Taiping brought in two bulldozers to level the field. Throughout early 1950s the field remained a dangerous playround as metallic remnants from the war machinces were a source of danger.
1955: The West and East Wing, Administration Block and Clock Tower were added.
Original Use: School
Original Building Type: Institutional
Current Name: Preparatory School/Sekolah Kechil
Current Use: School
Current Building Use: Institutional
Original Drawings dated 10 November 1910 remain in the custody of Perak PWD.
Source:
The Prep School: The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (2013), MCOBA