King George V School, Seremban - History

History

King George V secondary school is renowned as Negeri Sembilan’s premier school. Situated at Za’aba Road (also known as Hose Road in the past) which is near the Seremban Lake Gardens (the crossroad between Za’ba Road and Rasah Road). Located on the top of a hill, King George V’s clock tower can be easily seen as the landmark of the school. It is widely known as KGV and a student is known as a Georgian.

KGV was originally a GES (Government English School), launched on 15 January 1923 in a train station building which was later known as KGV. The construction process started on the 7th of October 1926. This was done to construct a main building which cost around RM 221,337.82. The school’s main building is also one of the most famous landmark in Seremban. In addition with that, the school clock was specially imported from England for the manufacturing of the clock tower.

On 23 April 1928, the main building located at Jalan Hose (now Jalan Za’aba) was officially opened by W.G. Ormsbygore which is the Secretary of the Imperial British Colony in Tanah Melayu. Those that attended the opening ceremony includes Tuanku Muhammad Ibni al-marhum Tuanku Antah which is the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan; Sir Hugh Clifford, the High Counselor of the British colony; Mr. Woffle, Negeri Sembilan’s resident and J.M Meade, Negeri Sembilan’s school Inspectorate. The date of the opening ceremony is in conjunction with the historical day for the British that is the “St. George Day”. That is the day the British celebrate the victory of the current king of England, King George V allegedly brought peace to the kingdom after defeating a dragon.

The school was named after the reigning monarch in Britain ( King George V ). Since April 23 is St George's Day, the slaying of the dragon by St George was accepted as the motif of the school crest.

Mr. Chin Meow Cheong became the first Head Master of the new school. He had a staff of 9 teachers to assist him. They are Messers George Van Geyzel, H..R.H Stafford, Cheah Yen Kwee S.B Poniah, Wheeler, D.E Fernandez, Lim Cheah Aik and Putih bin Tahir. The student population consisted of 125 Malay boys.These students passed the standard 4 dan 5 Malay school examination. They were chosen to enter "Special Malays Class". R. Kanapathy and Gah Hock Kwee are the first Indian and Chinese who are chosen. During the 1920s school hours had to be regulated according to the train schedule. School started with the arrival of the morning train at 9.40 a.m. and ended in time for the pupils to catch the 2.45 p.m. train back to Rembau. The school timetable was changed in 1930s and school hours was from 8.00 a.m. till 1.00 p.m. In 1926, there were 26 pupils who sit the Junior Cambridge examination. One of the pupils is Shamsuddin Nain who is our Negeri Sembilan Chief Minister in 1953. In 1993, under the principal (Mr. R.J Huddie), the first girl pupil was in took to this school. She was Remola Sen while the first Malay girls pupil was Che Jamiah bt. Yaacob.

In 1941, the school premises were taken over by the Australian Imperial Forces. During the Japanese occupation, the school was used as the Japanese Military Police Headquarters by the Miyazaki Butai regiment. The dressing room beside the stage in the school hall were reportedly used as torture chambers. After the Allied reoccupation, the British army maintained a military hospital in the school for a further 6 months.

In 1954, the Primary Section became a separate school altogether under Mr. P Sinnathamby and in 1960 the Primary School moved away to its own buildings in Ampangan with Mr A.R. Chapman as the Headmaster.

The period 1968-1969 under the headship of Mr K Anandarajan was a vital period of change and expansion. The school tuckshop was improved and expanded. A new sports complex was created with a 25 metre swimming pool, making KGV the first school in the state to possess one.

In 1971, during the headship of Lim Leng Lee, an air conditioned Sixth Form Library was realised. In 1990 the old tuckshop was demolished and a 4 storey block was built in its place. In 1997, a four-storey Science complex was completed.

When En Samsuddin b Hamidan became the Principal of KGV, he made quite a few changes to the school. No effort was spared in constructing new facilities for the good of the students. The old Science laboratory was renovated to house a new resource center, with a lecture hall, Cyber Café and a fully equipped language laboratory. A double storey ICT center was added to facilitate teaching and learning. The center is equipped with 40 computers with broadband internet access. Internet access is also available in the staff room and school office through a wired network as well as wireless, making the school a wireless hotspot.One notable effort made during his tenure was turning the school into a single session school on the 18th of January 2001 . On the record, the school was a double session day school for almost 50 years when the change was made.