Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark, Perai

Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark, Perai
© St Mark School

Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark (GPS: 5.38645, 100.38067) is a primary school in Perai, on the Penang Mainland. Often called St Marks, the school is at Lorong 3 in Perai Utama, near the foot of the Prai River Bridge, and next to Giant Hypermarket Prima Prai. Its pupils are mostly Tamils from the surrounding villages, such as Kampung Dock and Kampung Selut, whose fathers work in the nearby wharves and dockyards of Prai.

St Mark Primary School was founded as an Anglican mission school. It is not known when the school was established, as mission schools were already in existence in Prai as early as 1882. The earliest mention of St Marks appeared in 1936. At that time, it was known as the St Anne School, Prai. The school building was located near the Prai locomotive shed. The headmaster was the late G. Sandoaham, who served until his retirement in 1946, after which the administration of the school passed to the Church of England Mission, which appointed Mr Tan Ah Hung as headmaster.

St Mark School Chronology
© St Mark School

Under Mr Tan's administration, the school relocated to an attap shed near the Prai Main Road. It had 200 pupils who were mostly the children of the railway employees. Mr Tan also sought government assistance to negotiate with the railway authorities in giving the school a piece of railway land, and on this plot the present school building was erected.

In 1951, a new St Marks Prai School building was completed. That same year the school received government assistance. By then its pupils had increased to 400, a number which would continue to rise rapidly, reaching 600 by 1955. During that time, the school only had six classrooms, each accommodating as many as 192 pupils.

In 2006, an hour-long downpour caused flooding at St Mark School. This led to a plan to rebuild the school which was conveyed to the director of land and drainage. A committee rallied the assistance of various bodies and eventually a new school building was completed.

Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark on Google Street View

Contact

Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark
Lorong 3 Perai
13600 Perai, Penang
Phone: +60 4 390 2179

Location of Sekolah Kebangsaan St Mark on map

Acknowledgement

Penang Travel Tips conveys thanks to Mr K. Praba for assistance in assembling the information on the history of the school.

List of Schools in Penang and Schools in Malaysia