A BRIEF HISTORY OF MUAR HIGH SCHOOL (1902-2008)

1902 – Founding of the School

The school began as a Government English School and it was first housed in an atap shed known as ‘Balai Kuning’ which was actually used by the Sultan as a reception hall whenever he visited Muar. It was located at the site of the present High Court Building. The school was founded in 1902. It was under the charge of one Mr. C.P. Frois, a Eurasian gentleman from Malacca. He was the first headmaster cum teacher of the school and the enrolment of the school then was about 40 pupils.

The school functioned at this site for about one year and then shifted to a site somewhere near the present town mosque. The enrolment increased to about 80 and there were two teachers by now, each handling 40 pupils. The school buildings belonged to a Malay school with the Government English School using it in the afternoon.

1903-School Moved To A New Site

In about 1903 or thereabout the school shifted to a wooden building which was somewhere in Jalan Abdullah, located approximately where the present Manaf Book Store is. After about a year the school shifted to where the present Pagoh-Panchor Bus Station is. Here too the Government English School shared the Malay School building. We are told that the building was a wooden structure built from the old horse stables brought over from Johor Bahru. A new headmaster, Mr. Paglar, took over the headship.

1907-Another Movement

Sometime in 1907, the school shifted to a new site somewhere near the present Shell service station at Jalan Sulaiman. It occupied 4 wooden houses which were turned into a school. In 1910, it moved temporarily to a site at the Tanjung.

1915 – New School Building

The present High School building, consisting of the hall and the classrooms immediately around the hall, was ready in 1914 but the school did not shift into the new building until 1915. For one year the school building was occupied by the Post Office because the Post Office building was not ready.

In 1915 when the school shifted into its own building for the first time it had a new headmaster by the name of Mr. Hugh Mortimer. He was one of four English educationists who were brought into Johor by the state government.

Even by this time the teachers had to go out into the kampongs to persuade the Malay parents to send their children to English school. There was a prejudice against the learning of the English Language.

1922. Mr. Huge Crombies, Headmaster.

There used to be no age limit and in many cases pupils used to be older than the teachers. The school progressed well and Mr. Moore was succeeded by Mr. Hugh Crombies in 1922. Then came on Mr. F.L. Shaw who was headmaster for a very short period and he was succeeded by Mr. David Roper who was headmaster from 1922-1929

1928. Extension to School Building

In 1928 the existing school building became too small to take in all those who wanted English education and the two new wings consisting of 8 classrooms were put up. Our school song was composed by Miss Belly Milne, the Head of the English Prepatory school.

1929. Mr. J. R. Taylor. Headmaster.

In 1929 came the most well-known and most devoted of the Government English School headmasters – Mr. Taylor. He was a retired headmaster and his experience enabled him to do a lot for the school. He remained as the headmaster until the Second World War disrupted everything in this part of the world.

During the Japanese occupation period and until Japan surrendered, the school was under the charge of Mr. C. D. Westwood. Many headmasters have come and gone since the war and some of them were:

1. Mr. C. D. Westwood.

2. Mr. G. Woods.

3. Lt. Col. C. A. Scott (known locally as “Captain Scoot”)

4. Mr. W. Gibson.

5. Mr. Clarke.

6. Mr. A. Williamson.

7. Mr.G. P. Daniel

8. Mr. E. A. Balshaw.

From the time Lt. Col. Scott left the school there have been many short periods in between when some of the senior teachers acted as headmasters. Some of them were Mr. P. C. Joseph, Mr. A. K. Pillai and Mr.Chiang Mong Hoe.

1954-Golden Jubilee

The school celebrated its Golden Anniversary in September 1954.

1957-Mr. D.P. Pereira, Headmaster

In August, 1957, Mr. D.P. Pereira took over from Mr. Balshaw, the last expatriate head of the school.

The High School was one of the pioneer schools in Johore of the Remove Form, the so-called vocational classes and secondary classes in the Malay medium. Larger and larger numbers of pupils were being admitted at the beginning of each year.

1959-High School- Day Training Centre (D.T.C.)

To meet the increasing intake of pupils, the former Preparatory School building was allocated to High School in 1957, but before it could be occupied by the school it was loaned to the newly-established Teachers’ Day Training Centre. In 1959 the Centre moved to its present premises, and for a year High School had the use of the ex-Preparatory School building.

1963-High School-Sekolah Dato` Sri Amar Di-Raja.

From 1960 to 1962, the Malay medium secondary classes continued to grow larger. The following year, these classes were shifted to a new school called Sekolah Dato’ Sri Amar Di-Raja with a brand new building of its own.

1964-School Population 1800

High School reoccupied the ex-Preparatory School building in January,1963, just in time to meet the largest intake of pupils in the history of the school, an intake which boosted the enrolment to over 1400 (though it was surpassed in January, 1964, which brought the enrolment up to 1800).

1964-High School- Sekolah Menengah Tengku Mahkota.

Meanwhile, in April, 1962, a new type of school was mooted- the Post Primary or Secondary Continuation School, for pupils who did not make the grade in the secondary school examinations. The new school for boys in Muar was to be in two sections, a Malay Medium section, and an English medium section, and the school was told to find accommodation for it and administer it in its early stage. Temporary accommodation was found for it in two primary school buildings in the afternoons. In January, 1964, this school also moved into its new building at Parit Raja to become the Sekolah Menegah Tengku Mahkota

High School – Centre For Normal Classes

This school was from pre-war years to 1960 the centre for North Johore of the teacher-training system known as normal Classes, through which the bulk of English school teachers was trained before the advent of the training centres. The headmaster of the High School was the ex-officio of the Senior Normal Instructors Centre or head of the centre

High School – Centre For Secondary Continuation School Training.

The training centre for Secondary Continuation School teachers was also sited in this school for convenience, but the administration of the centre was not the responsibility of the school

High School-Centre For the Regional Training Centre (R.T. C.) For Teachers

In 1965, the government started a crash programme for the training of secondary teachers. This training programme was called Regional Training Centre (R.T.C.). Again High School premises were used during the weekends for this purpose.

This centre was responsible for the trainingof three batches of Regional Training Centre teachers. In conjunction with this training programme, more pupils were taken into the school and the enrolment passed the 2000 mark.

1965- Sixth Form Classes Started

In 1965, two sixth form classes were started in this school to cater for pre-University students of North Johore

1966-High School-Sekolah Menengah Sri Muar.

In 1966 when the school became too large, the lower secondary classes were split and they formed the nucleus of a new school, situated just behind our science laboratory. The school became known as Sekolah Menengah Sri Muar.

1969- New Sixth Form Block

A New Sixth form block was built in 1969 to cater for the expanding sixth form population.

1973- Mr. M. G. Parry, Headmaster.

In May 1973 the headmaster, Mr. D. P. Pereira, went on retirement and Mr. M.G. Parry took over as headmaster.

1974- High School II.

In June 1974 a further split took place and some of the Lower Secondary Classes moved to the High School II building at Jalan Junid.

!978- Farewell to an illustrious headmaster

At the end of the year, Mr. M.G. Parry left the school to assume a new post in Johore Bahru.

1979- Tuan Sheikh Hussin bin Ali, Heasmaster.

The school welcomed its new headmaster, Tuan Sheikh Hussin bin Ali.
On 15^th June, High School II became an independent school of its own - known officially as Sekolah Menegah JalanJunid with En. Aziz bin Mohd as the headmaster. This year also marks the 75^th Anniversary of the school. The school has now an enrolment of 1,682 and a staff of 74 teachers.

1982- 1996- Tn. Hj. A. Wahab bin Suradi, Principal

In 1982, Tn. Hj. A. Wahab was appointed as the new Principal. In 1984 - High School Muar celebrated its 80^th anniversary and High School Muar was also chosen as the venue for an exhibition in conjunction with Muar Town 100 years celebration which lasted for 3 days from 9.9.1984 until 11.9.1984.

HIGH SCHOOL MUAR new buildings

A few old buildings were demolished and replaced with new ones. Block F in 1990 and Block L in 1991 were built to provide more classrooms whereas Block G built in 1990 accomodated the admintrative office, science laboratories, a resource centre and the school library. A new hall was also built in 1991.

1996-1997 – Tn. Hj. Abas bin Deraman was made principal in 1996 .Under his administration, the present school ‘Surau’ was constructed in 1997.

1998-1999 – Cik Hajjah Aminah bt. Ahmad took over as Principal when the former retired. She is the first lady principal of this school. During her time, she tried to make the High School Muar 1915 buildings into heritage buildings by applying for a grant from the government of Johor to refurbish the building. She also introduced the Malay traditional costume (Baju Melayu) to be worn by all the muslim students on Friday.

From 1999-2001- Pn. Maznah bt. Abu Bakar was appointed as the principal. She continued where the former principal left off and the old buildings (Blocks A and B) were refurbished at the cost of RM 2.5 million. Work on the refurbishment started in 1999 and was completed in 2001. It was then declared as a ‘heritage building’ when it was completed. In 1999 – the school was allocated a multi purpose court by the The Johor Youth and Sport Ministry which was located beside the hockey field replacing the co-curicular building which was demolished.

From July 2001-1 December 2001 Tn. Hj. Jamian bin Jaffar replaced Pn Maznah bt. Abu Bakar as the principal –The old blocks (Block A and B ) were fully used in that year. During his short time as principal, High School Muar won the State Level Choral Speaking Competition and entered the competition at the national level.

December 2001 until 18 May 2003 Tn. Hj. Baharol Din bin Hassan was the principal.

On 29 March 2002 High School Muar started its 100 years celebration. On 29 March 2003 opening of Block A was officiated by the Chief Minister of Johor, Y.A.B. Dato’ Hj. Abd. Ghani bin Othman and officially declared as a heritage building by the Chief Director of the Malaysian Arcade, Yg. Bhg. Dato Habibah bt Zon. The school also was the first runners up for the School Financial Management Competition at the national level in 2002.

1^st July 2003, Pn. Milan Tai bt Abdullah took over the post as the present principal. The years 2003 to 2005 have brought many changes to the school and also see the school winning many competitions at district, state, national and international levels. Among the successes are:

i. Champion for the International Competitions for Schools organised by the University of South Wales, Australia in Computer Skills and English Skills, 2003 -2005

ii. Shell Malaysia Award for best PMR results, 2003

iii. First runners up for the Poster drawing competition National Level, 2003

iv. First runners up in the National Level ‘Sekolah Selamat’ competition, 2003

v. Third place for the ‘3K’ competition national level, 2003

vi. First runners up and Champion for the state level Landscape competitions in 2003 and 2004.

vii. In the year 2004, High school Muar became champion in the Excellent Mangement of the State Level Resource Center Competition and also won the consolation award for excellent resource center at the national level.

viii. In the year 2005, High School Muar won the ‘Sekolah Harapan Negara’ state level competition and will enter the national level competition in 2006 representing the state of Johor.

ix. In the year 2005, the Ministry of Education officially recognized High School Muar as a premier secondary school in the country.

x. In the year 2006. High School Muar won third place in the ‘Sekolah Harapan Negara’’ National Level competition and once again emerged champion in the State Level Landscape Competition.

xi. In the year 2007, the school was the 2^nd  runners-up for the National Level ICT  Leader's Awards and runners-up for the  Excellent Management of  School Resource Centre Award at  the state level.

22^nd May 2008 - Puan Milan Tai  retired from her post. Puan Milan was succeeded by Puan Hajjah Lafitah binti Hamdan on 20^th  October 2008 as the senior principal of Muar High School. A Historical event happened this year as we organised the 75^th Annual School Sports on the May 20. Here are some of our achievements during  this year. Muar High School became the Champion of the National Robotic Competition for Segamat, Muar and Batu Pahat Districts Level. and became the 1^st  Runner-up at the  State Level on the 24^th July 2008 for the second time since 2007. We became the Champion in the Science and Technology Innovation Competition for Muar District Level. We received DG Outstanding Enviromental Project Award 2007-2008, DG Outstanding Leadership Skill Award 2007-2008, DG Leo Wise Children Award 2007-2008 and DG Outstanding Community Service Award 2007-2008.

"We are still good and proceed to be the best"
Our Motto: "Deeds Not Words"