Phor Tay Buddhist School
19A Jalan Bagan Jermal, 10250 Penang
Phor Tay Bagan Jermal Location Map
Phor Tay Sungai Dua Location Map
Phor Tay Buddhist School
The Phor Tay Buddhist School, a girls' school, is the first Buddhist high school in Malaysia. It is known today as SMJK Phor Tay, and has an enrolment of about 1500 female students.
Phor Tay was founded in 1935 by a Buddhist nun, the Venerable Fung Lian, who came from China to propagate Buddhism in Penang. After the Venerable Fung Lian passed away in 1939, her followers continued her mission to found a school to provide secular education. However, the school was forced to close during the years of the Second World War. It reopened in 1945, with renewed efforts to set up the Phor Tay Primary School.
Funds from philanthropist Aw Boon Haw enable the construction of the Phor Tay Institution, which includes a Buddhist shrine, a meditation centre, and the primary school. Mr Aw Boon Haw personally officiated in the opening of the Phor Tay Primary School on 20 April 1950. The following year, the Peng Hsia Opera Association initiated a fund-raising campaign to collect funds to build the Phor Tay High School. Mr Aw Boon Haw made another donation to fund the construction of six classrooms. Phor Tay High School began operating in 1954. In 1957, Mrs Aw Boon Haw made a donation of MYR$70,000 in memory of her late husband, and as an impetus for other donors to follow suit. This enabled a further MYR$500,000 to be collected for the school. Mrs Aw officiated in the official opening of the Phor Tay High School on 1 March, 1961.
Phor Tay is presently gearing for a move from its premises in Bagan Jermal to new premises at Lip Sin Garden in Sungai Dua. The new school building cost RM33 million, with funds coming from private as well as institutional donors. In line with this move, Phor Tay is applying to change from an all-girl school to a co-educational school. The Phor Tay building in Sungai Dua is expected to be completed by October 2008, to enable a 3000-strong student body for the January 2009 intake. Those who wish to contribute to the fund can call 04-2270772.
Getting there
You can reach the present Phor Tay in Bagan Jermal by taking Rapid Penang Bus U101 and U104 from Weld Quay, and T304 from Bayan Baru.
To reach the new Phor Tay premises at Sungai Dua, take Rapid Penang Bus U301, U303 from Weld Quay, and T304 from Bayan Baru.
Finding Accommodation in Penang
If you're going to Penang, you now have the option of finding accommodation in a hotel, or look for one in hostels and guesthouses. To book a room in a star-rated hotel, use the Penang Hotel Guide for Budget Travelers. To find accommodation in a Hostel or Guesthouse, use the Penang Guide to Hostels and Guesthouses. Each link provides detailed listing of the type of accommodation you can expect in Penang. Be aware that you get what you pay for. If you need a certain degree of comfort, then a star-rated hotel may be an ideal option for you. On the other hand, if you are able to forego a bit of creature comfort, then hostels and guesthouses are clean, safe, and incredibly good value for money. For accommodation in other destinations, visit Hotel Guide for Budget Travelers or Hostels & Guesthouses Accommodation Guide.
Phor Tay Buddhist School Photo Gallery
Phor Tay Buddhist School in Bagan Jermal (23 December 2006)
School gate at the Bagan Jermal premises (23 December 2006)
Let us keep you updated on everything related to Penang. Just copy and paste our link to your website or blog.
Here's the latest updates from my websites ...
Thank you very much for visiting Penang Travel Tips! My name is Tim. I am the writer of this website. I created it to share with travel enthusiasts information that I have assembled about Penang, which I hope is useful to you, and is as accurate as I am able to put together.
Penang Travel Tips combines my knowledge of Penang with talking to people, asking questions, taking photographs, snooping around, and lots and lots of research. I hope that through Penang Travel Tips, budget travelers can explore Penang on their own. This is one of over a dozen websites that I write - you can click my thumbnail photo above to randomly visit any one of them. All my photos are available for commercial printing - find out the photo usage rights here. If you wish to share your photos on this website, upload them to Panoramio (www.panoramio.com) and send the URL to me for consideration. I would love to display your photos here. Also, if you have additional information about the places I have written about, please write and tell me about it. If I include your information, I will provide an acknowledgement within the page.
I want to thank all of you who have written to me providing support and encouragement, and thanks also to those who helped me make the information more accurate. If you'd like to correspond with me, send your mails to my address as shown below:
