Keat Hwa Secondary School

Keat Hwa Secondary School (simplified Chinese: 吉华国民型华文中学; traditional Chinese: 吉華國民型華文中學; pinyin: jí huá guó mín xíng huá wén zhōng xué; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Keât Huá tiong ouk) is a cluster Chinese high school in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia which provides quality secondary education. It was founded in 1911, making it one of the oldest schools in Malaysia. It has an area of 13 acres (53,000 m2). Keat Hwa Secondary School is widely known as Keat Hwa in the region, and it is one of the only 78 Chinese conforming (national-type) secondary schools in Malaysia.

One of the features which makes the Keat Hwa Secondary School special from other typical secondary schools in Malaysia is that all students with Chinese primary school background are required to learn Chinese language (中文) and to sit for Chinese language examination (华文科) in major examinations like Lower Secondary Assessment (初中评估考试) and Malaysian Certificate of Education (马来西亚教育文凭) or the MCE.

The principal of the Keat Hwa Secondary School is Mr Yeoh Chui Seang _BKM, with five vice-principals; Admin - Mr Lor San Shu; Student Affairs - Mr Wong Ghee Hong; Co-curriculum - Mdm Goh Kim Bung; Sixth form - Mr Ching Kang Beng; Afternoon session - Mdm Khor Sook Mooi.

As opposed to other typical schools that are directly managed by the government, the Keat Hwa Secondary School has its own Board of Directors which manages the school properties. The current (2011-2013) Chairman of the Board of Directors of Keat Hwa Secondary School is Dato' Teoh Boon Beng _{DSDK, PJK, JP.}

In 2011, Keat Hwa Secondary School was awarded the Cluster School of Excellence status (卓越学校) by Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) or the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia. Keat Hwa Secondary School is also said to be the best secondary school in town. And in 2011 itself, Keat Hwa celebrated its 100th anniversary with three-day celebration seeing more than 35,000 Kedah Chinese and exstudents/alumni around the world participating in the events. The Keat Hwa 100 celebration is also being recorded in the Malaysian Book of Records.

As a Chinese Secondary School, the teaching of Science and Mathematics are in English. Following the announcement of the Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Education Minister, on November 4, 2011, the Keat Hwa Secondary School would have the options to teach Science and Mathematics fully in English, Bahasa Malaysia, or bilingually. However, majority of the parents wanted their children to be taught Science and Mathematics in English.

Today, Keat Hwa Secondary School has about 2500 students from lower secondary and upper secondary to the sixth form, with more than 136 academic staffs and about 20 supporting staffs.