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Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar

Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar abbreviated as MESAT (also known as Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Methodist, Ayer Tawar) is a secondary school located on Jalan Besar besides the Ayer Tawar Chinese Methodist Church (ATCMC) in Ayer Tawar, Perak, Malaysia.

History

In 1948, the Management Committee of the U Te Anglo-Chinese School, Ayer Tawar, in a bid to re-organise the school to meet the changing demands of the community, invited the Methodist Church to over the control of the school. Discussion by discussion followed and the Methodist Church agreed to take over the management of the school under a new name of Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar.

This new set up took effect from January 1949 and Miss M. Dirksen, who was a missionary stationed in Sitiawan became the first manager of Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar. She was directly responsible to the board of Education of the Methodist Church. The old building of the school was a crumbling block of three classrooms. The first headmaster of Methodist English School Ayer Tawar was Mr. Nga Been Hoon who was helped by a group of young teachers. The enrolment was about 150 divided into four classes: three classes in the old building and one class in the Sunday School Hall nearby. There was no playing field at the time.

In June 1949, Mr. Ling Chew Siang succeeded to the headmastership. Since his appointment, the school had been the successful completion of the series of building projects. A tuck shop and a block of classrooms completed with furnishings were ready to use. In 1956, the third project of three classrooms, an office classroom-sized office and a staff room, was completed. In 1957, a plot of four acres land in area adjacent to the existing school compound was purchased at a cost of $5000. This gave an ample space for any plan of future classrooms. In 1960, the old dilapidated building was pulled down and another ambitious plan was launched for the building of a concrete block of four classrooms together with a '90x32' Science and Library building connected to the other blocks by covered ways. In 1961, this project was completed at a cost of $4000.

Rev. E McGraw was the manager for this school from 1956 to 1959 while he was the principal of Anglo Chinese School, Sitiawan. In 1962, Mr. Ling Chew Siang left to head Methodist Afternoon School, Sitiawan and in 1963, Mrs. Naik Yong Chong was appointed as the head teacher while Mr. Ling Chew Siang remained as the manager of the school.

New Era of Development for the School

Mr. Li