Schools around Jalan Raja Laut

I should have begun my walk of this street by telling you that Raja Laut translates as Sea King. Better later then never. Actually Raja Laut is the name of one of the sons of Sultan Muhammad of Selangor.

As I mentioned in my last post the Havela Singh s/o Thakardas Dharamsala currently houses a local University College, the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University College.

The National Library was housed here before it moved into its own premises along Jalan Tun Razak.

Prior to this University College being located here, there were only primary schools in this area. I'm not counting the various technical and commercial learning institutions such as Goon Institution which has been here for decades.

This is the Batu Road Girl's School seen from the overhead bridge in front of Wisma Sime Darby.

This school was completed and started classes in 1962. How do I remember this? I was enrolled here for Standard One that year. No, I'm not female. The school that I was registered to attend was not complete, so we had to squat here for a whole year.

The little blue box building in the corner is our 'National Loo'. There are many such loos around town but you may not be able to use them in an 'emergency', as the attendents are usually not around.

Batu Road School or Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Jalan Batu.

I think this is probably the only school with 2 road names to its address, Jalan Batu and JalanRaja Laut. I was transferred here when I was in Standard 2 until I completed my primary education at Standard 6.

This school was built in the early 1900's. During the Second World War, it is said to have been used as a Japanese Garrison. The perimeter of the roof is tarred to enable easy movement of heavy artillery.

The school has classes for the visually handicapped.

Here normal students get to mix with students who are less than normal.

The Batu Road Special School.

I'm not sure of the category of students enrolled at this building which is away from the main building.

A view of Batu Road School from Jalan Merpati.

The red roof building housed our school tuck shop, now usually known as a canteen.

Chung Kwok National Type (Chinese) Primary School.

The school is located at the end of Jalan Merpati.

Access to Jalan Merpati was from Broadrick Road (now Jalan Sultan Ismail), but with the building of the Sultan Ismail LRT Station at its present location, an access was opened from Jalan Raja Laut next to the present Quality Hotel.

The Appar Tamil School, one of the more popular Tamil schools in Kuala Lumpur.

I attended a Kindergarten that was renting a classes in this school.

The school is now at what is Jalan Merpati.

In the 1960's, access was directly from Jalan TAR via a little road. You had to pass the National Registration Department, located in the yellow wooden government buildings along that road.

Jalan Raja Laut, from Jalan Ipoh, ended at its junction with Broadrick Road and accessible up to Batu Road School.

The area south of this up to Jalan Parlimen was mostly belukar and squatter settlements or to use the politically correct term, urban pioneers. That's why you don't see any pre-war buildings along this stretch.