Maryknoll Convent School

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Maryknoll Convent School
Maryknoll Convent School, aerial view, 2007
Maryknoll Convent School, aerial view, 2007
type of school Grant School (Hong Kong)
founding 1925
address

Elementary School: 130 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon, Hong Kong ; Secondary School: 5 Ho Tung Road, Kowloon Tsai, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Special Administrative Region Hong Kong
Country People's Republic of China
Coordinates 22 ° 19 ′ 40 "  N , 114 ° 10 ′ 47"  E Coordinates: 22 ° 19 ′ 40 "  N , 114 ° 10 ′ 47"  E
management Melaine Lee
Website mcs.edu.hk/
Maryknoll Convent School, view from Waterloo Road.
Maryknoll Convent School, Entrance No. 5 Ho Tung Road.

The Maryknoll Convent School ( MCS , Chinese  瑪利諾 修院 學校 ) is a Roman Catholic girls' school with primary and secondary school in Kowloon Tsai, Hong Kong . It was founded in 1925 by the American Maryknoll Sisters. MCS is known for its excellent academic results and school traditions. 14 of her students won the Hong Kong Outstanding Students Award. This puts MCS in 5th place among Hong Kong schools.

history

In 1921 some members of a group of Catholic women called the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic (short: Maryknoll Sisters) went to Hong Kong from the United States. On February 11, 1925, Mary Paul began teaching twelve students in a room at the convent at 103 Austin Road. Due to the growing number of female students, the school moved to 248 Prince Edward Road in 1931. The school finally moved to its current campus at 130 Waterloo Road in 1936.

In 1941, the Maryknoll Sisters left Hong Kong and closed the school because the Japanese Army occupied Hong Kong . In 1945, after the capitulation of Japan , the school was reopened.

In 1960, a secondary school branch was opened at 5 Ho Tung Road. The elementary school remained at 130 Waterloo Road. Sr. Jeanne Houlihan led the founding of the Maryknoll Student Association for secondary school in 1967 . In 1971 a staff council was introduced as an experimental management system for secondary schools. It was later replaced by a School Advisory Committee and in 2001 by the General Staff Assembly . In 1989 a pupil prefect system was set up. In May 1992 the MCS Educational Trust for secondary schools was established.

In 1997 the primary school was converted into an all-day school. In 2001 and 2002 parent-teacher associations were established. In 2005, the MCS Foundation replaced Maryknoll as the school body. On May 16, 2008, the Maryknoll Convent School building was declared a Hong Kong Cultural Monument.

In the upper part of the logo you can see two lamps with a rose in the middle. The lamps should remind the pupils of James Russell Lowell's saying in English As one lamp lights another, nor grows less, So nobleness enkindleth nobleness . The rose is the symbol of Mary, mother of Jesus.

A black and white part of the logo comes from the Dominican shield as the Maryknoll Sisters were part of the Dominican Order. The white symbolizes purity and truth and the black symbolizes self-sacrifice.

The other colors of the logo are blue and red, with blue representing loyalty and red representing charity.

At the bottom is the school motto in Latin Sola Nobilitas Virtus , 'Only virtue ennobles' .

The ghost fir controversy

In the corner of the school yard across from the school gate on Waterloo Road was a room fir . She was 71 years old and 23 m tall. Called the “ghost fir” by the students, it was seen as a symbol of the school.

On July 10, 2009, the Association of Former Schoolgirls sent a circular to its members to take photos of the ghost fir and say goodbye, with reference to a decision by the school management to cut the tree in two weeks. The school administration was concerned about the safety of the students and the public if the tree fell, as explained in a letter from the school principal Sr. Jeanne Houlihan to former students.

Several former high school students, some of them landscaping and environmental science specialists, suggested solutions to save the tree while ensuring the safety of the students and the public. They were supported by 2,000 schoolgirls who signed a petition on Facebook to preserve the tree. The school's suggestion to cut the tree into small pieces as a souvenir for schoolgirls and former schoolgirls was viewed as cruel by many former schoolgirls and compared to leeching. Experts in the field, most notably Professor CY Jim, Chair Professor of Geography at the University of Hong Kong, and Mr. Ken So of the Conservancy Association were used to assess the health of the tree. It was found that although the tree leaned slightly to one side, it was not an imminent threat. It later emerged that the consultancy that the school had previously consulted had a conflict of interest because they made money clearing trees. The company might have been hired to do the tree felling. The consulting firm's claims of termite infestation have been refuted by scientists and independent specialists. An excessive leakage of tree sap was also clarified as harmless.

To solve the problem, the attachment of the trunk to the school building and the establishment of a support structure for the tree were proposed. The attachment to the school building was out of the question, however, as damage to the listed building was to be feared.

Ultimately, the government stepped in. It was agreed to save the tree. The Development Bureau provided HKD 500,000 to fund the project.

On February 4, 2010 the school announced that the roots of the tree were so badly damaged during drainage work that the tree could not be saved and would have to be felled. The announcement outraged many schoolgirls who believed the decision was hasty and suspected that the experts' advice had not been taken into account. On February 5, 2010, the director of the Hellen Yu elementary school, herself a former student, confirmed in a press conference that the decision was painful but necessary. She also said some former high school students acted irresponsibly by spreading a conspiracy theory. On the same day, a former student sent a letter to the school through a lawyer questioning the school's legal basis to cut the tree.

The former students were informed through an indirect channel that the decision to cut the tree had been made before the two government-appointed experts had completed and submitted their reports. The former students were disappointed by the lack of transparency in the decision-making process and the reluctance of the school management to preserve the tree.

At 4:00 a.m. on February 6, 2010, police cordoned off a section of Waterloo Road between Flint Road and Boundary Street. At 6:00 a.m., employees from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department began to cut the tree. The process takes three hours. When former legislator Tanya Chan and a former student asked workers to show them permission to do the tree work, they were refused by Alan Au, a government official from the Development Bureau . He also refused to show the police permission. From 10:30 a.m., more than 50 schoolgirls gathered at the gate on Waterloo Road, mourned the tree with prayers and sang the school anthem.

Several former high school students lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman on the same day about maladministration in several ministries: Leisure and Cultural Services Department (as the parent of the Antiques and Monuments Office ), Development Bureau , Drainage Services Department and Buildings Department . The former students asked the authorities to provide information on who had approved the drainage work, whether the effects on the tree had been carefully examined and adequate risk reduction measures had been taken. It has been argued that government agencies either were not informed immediately or left it to the school to take no remedial action. In addition, the decision to give permission to cut the tree was contrary to the conclusions of the experts who recommended erecting a permanent support instead of cutting the tree. The former students also questioned whether the school or government agencies had the necessary legal authority to carry out their actions, as neither of them could obtain authorization from the relevant authorities.

It was later reported that the school could face criminal prosecution for performing the drainage work that ultimately led to the tree being felled for violating the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance . After an investigation, former Development Minister Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor told LegCo members that the school had failed to meet the terms of the permit issued for its drainage work, which resulted in damage to more than half of the 70-year-old pine tree's roots who liked school. Additionally, Carrie Lam said the school cut 18 trees as early as December 2008 without submitting a deforestation plan to the Antiquities and Monuments Office .

Alumnae

literature

  • Amy MW Ho: Forever be True - The Love and Heritage of Maryknoll . Maryknoll Convent School Education Foundation, Hong Kong 2009, ISBN 978-988-17861-1-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Past Awardees. In: youtharch.org.hk. Retrieved November 30, 2019 .
  2. ^ Maryknoll Convent School, Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong - Declared Monuments - Antiquities and Monuments Office. In: amo.gov.hk. Retrieved November 30, 2019 .
  3. ^ Maryknoll school declared a monument. In: www.news.gov.hk. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008 ; accessed on November 30, 2019 (English).
  4. ^ Olga Wong: School may be charged over landmark tree . In: The South China Morning Post . March 4, 2010 (English).