Exploring St. Xavier's Institution,
Farquhar Street, George Town, Penang
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The St. Xavier's Institution in Penang is the oldest Roman Catholic boys school in Malaysia. I photograph it for the documentation I am writing in AsiaExplorers on Penang heritage sites. The roots of SXI can be traced to De La Salle Brothers movement, an Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, founded by St Jean-Baptist de la Salle, between 1679 and 1719, dedicated to the setting up of schools for the workmen and the poor. The La Salle Christian Brothers set up many schools in Malaya, many of which are some of the best institutons of learning in their respective towns today, including St Michael's Institution in Ipoh, and St Joseph's Institution in Singapore (today's Singapore Art Museum).
St. Xavier's Institution, Farquhar Street, Penang.
The history of St. Xavier's Institution goes as far back as 1852 (or was it 1825, sorry, but I found conflicting numbers in my research), when De La Salle Christian Brothers took over a Malay medium school which was started even earlier, in 1787, and renamed it the St. Francis Xavier's Free School (as opposed to the Penang Free School started by the Anglican Reverend Hutchings). In 1857, the St Francis Xavier's Free School relocated to its present premises on Farquhar Street.
During World War II, the original St Xavier's school building was taken over by the Japanese troops as their naval base. This attracted Allied bombing in December 1941, totally destroying it and it was left unoccupied throughout the remainder of the Japanese Occupation.
The new St. Xavier's Institution building dates from 1954. In August 2006, the teachers and students of St Xavier's Institution held a night heritage walk around the school neighbourhood, to collect funds for their school renovation. They were seeking to collect RM500,000 of which they hoped to raise RM200,000 from the heritage walk.
A recently unveiled statue of St John Baptist de la Salle, who was proclaimed Patron of Teachers in 1950, and whose Order founded the St. Xavier's Institution.
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