History
The Early Days
St. Michael's Institution started off as a very small bungalow on a small plot of land in a coconut grove. In the year 1912, Reverend Father J.B. Coppin from St. Michael's Church initiated the idea. Despite Brother James' (a Brother Visitor) reluctance concerning the shortage of teachers; Coppin managed to buy a small plot of land in Kampong Pisang. A bungalow served as the school building situated on Clayton Road. P.J. Morsingh was appointed as the first Headmaster. For the convenience of students, a well was built beside the school. The foundation of the bungalow and the well remains to this day.
Coppin was given the task of administering the school and obtained the necessary grants from the Perak government on the undertaking from Brother Visitor that the management of the school would be taken over by the Christian Brothers as soon as possible. The first school day began on 4 December 1912 with 37 students.
By 1913, the school enrollment grew to 139. The few teachers there were experienced and with the help of the headmaster, the promotions were rapid. There were three major government examinations: Standard IV, VI, & VII.
Cambridge classes were introduced in 1917. The enrollment reached 300 that year.
In 1920, Coppin found it difficult to manage the enrollment of 327 students, and requested La Sallian Brothers to help. After Morsingh resigned in 1920, James sent Irishman Brother Paul Gallanger to take charge of the school. Gallanger was also commissioned by James to draw up plans for a new building but unfortunately, before any plans could be finalized, Paul left for Ireland in January 1921. He was then replaced by Frenchman Brother Vernier Augustus.
Augustus, who was trained in the field of architecture, arranged for the construction of a proper building, which was completed by the end of 1921. The new building, which he designed himself was strongly ecclesiastical in feeling, in the Gothic vernacular, and simple in its detailing. An interesting feature was its class doors faced either north or south, so that sun rays would never cause disturbance to class activities.
The foundation stone was laid on 17 June 1922 by Major C.W.C. Parr OBE, who was the British Resident in Perak. Coppin blessed the finished building on 15 May 1923, the Feast Day of St. John Baptist De La Salle. Electric lighting was installed the following month. The school was completed in stages over a period of some 30 years, and was included as a must-visit site in the Tourist Guide Book to Perak.
The cost for the whole building was $200,000. The Brothers did not avail themselves of a government grant because there were strings attached to acceptance of grants, such as reversion of land to the government in the event of the Brothers ever withdrawing from Ipoh. In addition, grants could only be spent on specified types of building, and chapels did not qualify. To accommodate more students, the Brothers decided to build further. Brother Patrick O'Donovan, was responsible for the extension of the school that included the chapel, hall, and science laboratories, which were completed in 1941. Patrick also introduced science lessons.
By 1939, the school had 14 classrooms, and 500 boys from Standards 1 to 7, Junior and Senior Cambridge classes.
World War II caused the obstruction to the running of the school, when Japan declared war in December 1941. On 8 December 1941, the British army wanted a hospital base and St. Michael's Institution became an army transit hospital camp. 15 days later, Japanese planes machine-gunned the building and damaged the roof. Looters stole furniture and books and even tried to wrench the tabernacle door from the altar. For three days, the Brothers stayed in St. Michael's church. Soon, St. Michael's Institution became the headquarters of the Japanese government of Perak and became known as "Perak Shu Seicho".
The school served many purposes during the Japanese occupation. The first floor of the main building and the hall was used as the police department and the treasury respectively. A petrol kiosk was built near the porch of the building of the Primary school. The lecture theater was the air raid shelter for Japanese officers and the top floor was used as the governor's rooms. The first classroom on the ground floor served as a telephone exchange. All these miseries ended after the Japanese surrendered and the school reopened on 24 September 1945.
Post War Expansion
Extensions followed when the school started to operate again. Brother Denis Hyland continued with the last two extensions to the main building, one at each end. During Denis' reign, two new basketball courts and a tennis court were added. Due to the continuing increase in student enrollment, Brother Pius erected a separate building for the primary schools, which was ready in 1960. The first primary school became an independent unit in 1957, and two years later, a second primary school was started. In 1958, priority was given to developing a more spacious library. Three classrooms were combined, and the space was furnished with new book cases and individual working tables for the students. It was named the Marian Library.
When Brother Ultan Paul took over, he erected an extension that actually doubled the size of the school, providing space for a new library, a canteen, more laboratories, a geography room, an art room, an administration centre and a staff room as well as extra classrooms. He started the project with a small fraction of the total cost of $700,000. 10% was subsidized by the government while class collections over a period of three years reached $100,000. Much of the remaining balance came from donations from many people.
In 1955, Brother Ultan Paul embarked on what would become one of the most defining pieces of Michaelian History. The Poet of Ispaha was the first of many school dramas to be produced by the students.
The Modern Era
Brother Vincent Corkery retired as director of the school in 1988 marking the end of an era. Mr. Chong Suan Ee became the first Malaysian principal of the school also the first who was not a Brother. He was succeeded by Mr. K Subramaniam, Mr Teh Chor Aun and finally, Mr Louis Rozario Doss.
Under Louis Rozario Doss, the school underwent many structural improvements funded primarily by money raised through the school plays. Among these structural improvements was the building of a new school toilet, the conversion of the Brothers quarters into classrooms, the renovation of the lecture theatre and the resurfacing of the basketball courts. He retired in 2006, passing the baton to current principal, Mr. Phoon Chong Chee.
In the new millennium, enrollment increased to more than 2000 students making St. Michaels among the 100 largest schools in the country. Such numbers has caused the average number of pupils in each classroom to far exceed the government ideal of 25. A typical class in St. Michaels has about 40 students. Sixth form classes are even more dense with numbers running into the fifties.
In November 2005, construction on the new primary school building began on a remaining piece of land south of the existing secondary school building. This was in view of the state of the original building which was falling apart. This building which was completed at the end of 2006 provides more modern facilities for the primary students of the school. Beginning 2007, both Primary schools, St. Michaels 1 and 2, merged to form a single primary school utilizing the new school building.
Following the government's decision in the National Education Blueprint to create 300 cluster schools of excellence, St Michael's Institution was named one of 23 schools in the State of Perak nominated to participate in this program.
This article is taken from Wikipedia