Convent Light Street, which is the oldest girls convent in Southeast Asia, is closing down. Two other schools in the state will also be closed.

According to Star Online, the Education Ministry does not own the land on which Convent Light Street, its primary school and Convent Pulau Tikus, are situated.

The report stated that the trustee landowner, the Provincial Secretariat of the Sisters of Infant Jesus, had informed the state Education Department that it wanted to take back the land.

However, the department, in a letter on Wednesday, notified the principals and headmaster that the process to close the school has started.

“The three schools will no longer have new intakes and the existing student body will be the last,” added the report.

Malaysiakini is currently awaiting a response from the Sisters of Infant Jesus.

Star Online claimed that rumours are rife that the schools would be turned into private international schools or that the land would be sold to developers.

An online check revealed that Convent Light Street was founded by three French Catholic nuns of the Holy Infant Jesus Mission in 1852.

It was stated that in the past, daughters of the wealthy and royalty from abroad attended the school.

Meanwhile, Penang education department director Shaari Osman confirmed that intakes for the three schools have ceased and the department has allocated other schools for those moving up to Form One from Convent Pulau Tikus and Convent Light Street.

“Penang has a lot of schools in close vicinity of each other so we will not have problems placing the students in other schools,” he told the Malay Mail Online.

Responding to a question, Shaari could not confirm if the schools would be closed by 2022.