On a teaching sojourn

The first batch of teachers arrived in England on board the S.S Chusan.

ON board the S.S Chusan, a steamer of the Peninsular & Oriental Shipping Company, was how the first batch of 148 men and women to be trained as teachers at the Malayan Teachers’ Training College (MTTC) Kirkby, reached England.

They embarked on their 21-day voyage on Dec 12, 1951 from Swettenham Pier, Penang.

Abdul Rahim Mohamed Yusoff, whose account of the journey is found in “Kirkby College-A Heritage”, wrote the ship was not only home to this group of young Malayans of all races and religion, but “became a floating unifying centre for cultivating a community comradeship which, unbeknown to us, would continue to be reinforced for two years in a foreign land, and would last for the rest of our lives.”

Some, he wrote, forged more than life long friendships, as they found their future spouses while still on board the ship.

Although in Kirkby for only two years, he wrote, they were exposed to all-round life-long education and experience.

Besides the intensive training to become teachers, he said, they learnt the importance of cultivating a caring society, and the importance of living together in a tolerant and united-close-knit community.

The picture on the cover of StarEdcuate today shows the arrival of the first batch of students at Kirkby railway station, the picture of the campus during summer along with the college emblem.

The students also made their mark by performing various dances. According to “Kirkby College-A Heritage”, the name Kampung Kirkby soon spread and they received many invitations for various organisations in Liverpool to perform cultural dances.

Subsequent batches of students were sent to England on refurbished military cargo planes or commercial aircraft with the British Overseas Airways Corporation.

According to “Kirkby College-A Heritage”, a total of 1,900 students comprising 1,500 for the basic teachers course and another 405 trained teachers for the teacher-trainers programme, were sent to MTTC, Kirkby.

“Kirkby College-A Heritage” states that in 1962, the then Malayan Minister of Education Abdul Hamid Khan, during a dinner with the Lord Mayor of Liverpool to mark the closing of the college, expressed the gratitude of the government.

“The existence of Kirkby College is a symbol of bilateral cooperation between the Federation of Malaya and the United Kingdom. It is my sincere hope that the happy ties that have been forged between the students and the teachers of my country with the educators in the UK will be maintained.”