THE BOYS OF SERENDAH SCHOOL
Snt,—It is with very great gratitude that we acknowledge the contribution of £146 10s. from the readers of the Spectator, to be used to help the boys of Serendah Schol, Selangor, Malaya, whose superintendent, Mr. A. M. Blake, was murdered by terrorists last December. It was always Mr. Blake's wish that, should anything happen to him, no money was to be spent on floral tributes, but on his boys and their welfare.
Serendah School offers a characteristic example of the Save the Children Fund's principle of working for children's welfare without regard to their race, nation or creed. Founded by the Fund in 1946, the school cares for Malay, Chinese, Indian, Tamil and Eurasian pupils, 150 of them, from six to sixteen years old. They are mostly orphans, who lost their parents during the Japanese occupation, and were left to roam the streets of Kuala Lumpur, taking to begging and petty theft. At Serendah these waifs learn to be good citizens, and are encouraged to develop their personalities along congenial lines, in the happiest atmosphere. They have their own boys' court for dealing with disciplinary lapses, and the " sentences " given are generally jobs like extra gardening, or other work in and around the school. The boys learn carpentry and tailoring ; they make all the clothes for the school, and take outside orders as well. They are paid for their work, and their earnings, apart from a small amount for pocket money, go into their bank accounts against the time they will leave school. Other occupations are jungle clearing, gardening, rope and fish-net making, duck and pig farming. They also learn boxing and art.
The average boy on leaving may take a job as a gardener, cook, shop assistant, or houseboy, but it had always been Mr. Blake's hope that money could be raised for a scholarship fund to enable suitable boys of outstanding ability to take further training on leaving the school, as an apprentice at some craft, or taking a course of study such as that provided at the Government Technical School in carpentry or mechanics. The money raised by the Spectator readers will, therefore, be used to help these boys on leaving school to their best advantage in taking up careers—it may be by apprenticeship, or as learners or " improvers " in a trade of which they have already gained some knowledge at Serendah. During the early days of their working life their wages are necessarily small, so such help towards living as that which the Spectator gift will provide will be of immense benefit to these boys of so many races and
creeds.—Yours faithfully, RACHEL MILNER.
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