TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN MALAYA: THE DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL SCHOOL KUALA LUMPUR, 1925 – 1940

Abstract

Technical education is extensively important for government services, infrastructure, urbanization and industrialization. Every countries feel the necessity of technical education to attain prosperity and to achieve development. In Malaya, many vernacular, English and vocational schools were established under the rule of the British during the last period of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Shortly after, the necessity of technical education was observed. As a result, the Treacher Technical School was established in Kuala Lumpur, in 1904. During the first decade of the 20th century, the classes were moved to different buildings; and during the first and second decades of the 20th century, students were trained for some government departments such as the Public Works Department, the Survey Office, the Railway Department and the Forest Department. The school faced several problems, and was closed and re-opened for a few times. In October, 1925, a departmental technical school which can be referred as the Technical School, Kuala Lumpur (TSKL) was opened to train the apprentices for the Railway, Survey and Public Works Departments. In this study, the TSKL which is a successor of the Treacher Technical School and an ancestor of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) will be examined, discussed and analyzed from 1925 until 1940 within the context of administration of the school and structure of the curriculum and co-curriculum, construction for the nation and country.