France and Malaysia: at school together

The French Catholic missionaries established several schools in Malaysia including St Xavier's Institution in Penang. - File photo

TO the surprise of many, France has been playing a substantial role in the development of education in Malaysia for more than two centuries.

Indeed, French Catholic missionaries started establishing schools here from the early 19th century, leaving behind an extraordinary heritage of dozens of education institutions, still thriving today around the country. St Xavier’s Institution or Convent Light Street in Penang, Convent Bukit Nanas in Kuala Lumpur, St Michael in Ipoh and many, many others all share these little-known “French roots”.