CONVENT Light Street will not be closed, sold or redeveloped, its board chairman, Tan Leh Sah, confirmed today.

“There is no issue. It will not be closed, it will not be sold, it will not be redeveloped,” Tan told The Malaysian Insight when contacted.

“It’s a 165-year-school, our flagship school.”

Local media yesterday reported that the Penang Education Department has instructed the Convent Light Street primary and secondary schools, and another missionary school, SMK Convent Pulau Tikus, to close.

Convent Light Street is said to be the oldest missionary school in the country, while SMK Convent Pulau Tikus was founded in the 1900s.

It was rumoured that the schools’ landowner, the Provincial Secretariat of the Sisters of Infant Jesus, intended to take back the land to turn the three missionary schools into private international schools.

However, Tan said, media reports have blown the issue out of proportion and social media mobs have jumped the gun to wrongly condemn the Sisters.

“(Even) in the 1990s when we were fundraising (for Convent Light Street), the Sisters had come out unequivocally to say that the school is not for sale,” she recalled.

The Sisters issued a statement yesterday denying any intention to sell the land and buildings for redevelopment.

“We hold a very long history here in Malaysia and preserving our history – be it the thrust of educating young people and/or the conservation of the heritage buildings – is dear to us.

“The IJ Sisters will never forget our mission in education,” the Provincial Secretariat head Celine Wong said in the statement.

Penang Education Department director Shaari Osman said the Sisters had indeed written to the Education Ministry to take back the land, but he asked the public to stop speculating as the ministry has yet to make a decision.

Shaari also dismissed rumours of a letter ordering the three schools to stop new intake of students next year.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said yesterday that the state government would not approve any planning permission for the land if it was bought over by a developer.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Chong Sin Woon said yesterday that the ministry did not decide to close down the three convent schools.

However, he said the landowners can reclaim the land whenever they want to, and urged the Sisters to use it for educational purposes. – November 4, 2017. – November 4, 2017.