The Methodist Movement has always been associated with education. Methodist churches in the late 18th,
19th and early 20th centuries in England emphasized on education for its members and their children.

In Malaysia, the Methodist clergy was the force which founded our Methodist schools, being founder principals of schools and pastors of their churches. These schools were established in the former Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States in Peninsular Malaysia. Our earliest schools were:
• 1891 – the first Methodist school, Penang 
          – the Anglo-Chinese School.
• 1892 – the first Methodist Girls’’ School, Penang.
• 1895 – Anglo-Chinese School, Ipoh.
• 1897 – Anglo-Chinese Girls’ School, Ipoh.
• 1903 – Anglo-Chinese School, Kampar.
 
Some of our Methodist schools were established by the British colonial government and then handed to the
Methodist Mission to manage.
• Treacher Methodist Girls’ School, Taiping (founded 1889, making it the oldest Methodist school).
• Methodist Girls’ School, Kuala Lumpur (founded 1896).
• Horley Methodist School, Teluk Intan (founded 1899).
• Anglo-Chinese School, Klang (founded 1893).

Our annals are replete with the names of founder-principals like the notable Rev. W.E. Horley, Rev. G.F. Pykett, Rev. James Hoover, Rev. Preston Peach and Rev. Dr. Ho Seng Ong.

Today, of our 24 Methodist Government-Assisted Mission Secondary and 38 Primary Schools in Peninsular Malaysia, 14 have celebrated their centennials.
 
The Methodist Mission also pioneered education for girls with 8 of the 24 secondary schools established only for girls and the others open to girls either from Form 1-5 or at 6th Form level. School histories reveal that the Methodist missionaries coaxed parents to send their daughters to be educated in our schools.
 
What do our Methodist schools stand for? Bishop Titus Lowe in 1924 has encapsulated the 4 ideals of Methodist education thus;
• The sanctity of the body
• The creation of mental efficiency
• The establishment of an unimpeachable standard of morals
• The coronation of the spiritual motive

Our Mission Statement honed in 2006 says:
i) We seek to offer a holistic education as enshrined in the Rukunegara.
ii)We seek to use our schools for the moral formation of our nation’s youths, irrespective of race, religion, class or creed.
iii)We seek to provide a safe and conducive environment where students can be best nurtured and equipped for physical, emotional and intellectual growth and development.
iv) We seek to enable and empower our nation’s youths to become responsible, caring, creative and productive citizens. We a/so seek to educate and train those who are marginalized because of socio-economic deprivation, physical or intellectual disabilities, or any other reasons.

Certainly the Methodist philosophy of education homes in on the worth and significance of each child made in the image and likeness of God so that educationists will walk the extra mile to ensure that none will be lost.

Our Methodist Mission schools from their inception to 1971 have always had a very strong Methodist ethos with strong Boards of Governors/Managers with the right to hire and fire teachers. Since 1971 with most of mission school teachers opting for Government servant status with attendant benefits, the strongest link between the Methodist Church Authority and the school is the Board of Governors/ Managers. Some schools have chaplains appointed. Our Methodist ethos centre round the school mottoes, school songs, school houses, plaques of dedication and blessing and the dedicated Methodist principals and teachers who selflessly show the face and heart of the Divine Master in their compassion and love for the students.

Throughout Malaysia, today there are 49 Government Assisted Methodist primary schools (we just discovered that we have 7 Iban Methodist schools in Kapit, Sarawak), 26 Government Assisted secondary schools (including Methodist Boys’ Secondary School, Sibu and SMB Tong Hua, Maradong) as well as five private schools and two private colleges of higher education – Methodist College Kuala Lumpur and Methodist Pilley Institute in Sibu.

Some are in line to be cluster schools of excellence but irrespective of whether they achieve cluster school status, each Methodist educational institution strives to focus on the development of character in the individual in a holistic and integrated manner to produce a wholesome personality who will honour God and serve society.

Miss Yin Kam Yoke
Education Secretary
Methodist Council of Education