SEREMBAN: Many may imagine Rantau, in the district of Seremban, as a cowboy-town, but it is in this small town where Sekolah Kebangsaan Sega, said to be among the oldest school in Negri Sembilan and Malaysia, is located.
The school is now 120 years old.
Its headmaster, Mat Nordin Mustafa said the school was closed on Dec 25, 1941, during World War 2 and when the Japanese came and occupied the country, it was re-opened and known as “Dei Jem Kokumin Gakkog”.
“The curriculum then was more to indoctrinate the students, and on Oct 1, 1945, the school was officially re-opened as SK Sega,” he told Bernama.
Mat Nordin said initially, the school comprised a small building which was built through gotong-royong by the local community and the curriculum then was only to meet the needs of children from Malay families to join the police or army or be a farmer or fisherman.
Over the years, the school has been through several face lifts, with new buildings built, but the wooden building remains and now serves as a resource centre, where various documents on the school, including its students’ enrolment from 1899, the year the school was established, are kept.
The school now has 104 students and a staff of 17 people, including teachers.
Among its former students are Datuk Shamsuddin Naim, who was Negri Sembilan Mentri Besar from 1953 to 1959.
Another former sudent, Izal Baharuddin, 44, who studied at the school from 1980 to 1986, said her nine other siblings also went to the school.
"It has many historical values,” said the woman, who is now a cleaner at the school. -- Bernama