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The Ipoh Tutorial Institute - Part 2
This is a photograph of the S P De Silva, completed in 1904. The photograph shows the building building around 1958.
As can be seen by the sign above the Station Road entrance it housed the Ipoh Tutorial Institute on its upper floors. This was an extension to this Institute in Gurdwara Road, Ipoh shown in Part 1. We believe this tutorial group concentrated more on Commercial practices like Pitman's shorthand, bookeeping, accounting and the like, rather than scholastic subjects. Alongside the entrance to the Institute, on the ground floor, was a secondhand bookshop. There was also an old gentleman who practised as a Commissioner of Oaths, sharing a small cranny in the bookshop.
Ken Chan reminisces :
"When I was in my mid twenties, I took an external course from London Institute of Marketing. To supplement my knowledge on basic commerce and business accounting, I took some introductory courses there. The Institute was owned and operated by a soft-spoken Indian gentleman by the name of Mr. Kurup (most probably the abbreviation of a longer name) and his better half was teaching there too. The side entrance that opened to a rickety staircase would lead students to the classrooms in the upper floor."
S Y Lee tells us :
"There was an auctioneer along the Belfield Street frontage run by I Packi. The front part of his hall was occupied by David, his nephew and they were dealing in sports goods."
Charlie remembers :
"I was told by a friend, when I showed him this blog recently, that the secondhand bookshop was also run by a Mr David (but he was not sure if it was the same David as the Sports shop in front). Sharing the already cramped space of the bookshop was a tailor, who was later replaced by the Commissioner. Anybody still remember what Shorthand looks like. A bit like Jawi to me, but I think today, it is lost, like the Chinese Secret Fan Scrip. Even Jawi, for that matter is getting used less and less in Malaysia."