| Wah Yan College, Kowloon | |
| Motto | In hoc signo vinces Latin, "By this sign you shall conquer" |
| Established | 1924 |
| Type | Grant-in-aid |
| Supervisor | Fr. Stephen Chow, S.J. |
| Principal | Dr. John Tan |
| Location | 56 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon, Hong Kong |
| Telephone Number | 2384 1038 |
| Religion | Latin Rite Catholic |
| Governing Body | Society of Jesus, Chinese Province |
| Connected School | Wah Yan College, Hong Kong |
| Homepage | http://www.wyk.edu.hk |
Wah Yan College, Kowloon (WYK; Traditional Chinese: 九龍華仁書院; Jyutping: gau2 lung4 wa4 jan2 syu1 jyun2, Pinyin: Jǐulóng Huárén Shūyuàn; demonym: Wahyanite, pl.: Wahyanites) is a Latin Rite Catholic secondary school for boys, located at 56 Waterloo Road, Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon. It is sponsored by the Society of Jesus.
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According to the school website,[1] the school is aimed to give students opportunity to know Christ, to build a school/learning community in which everybody may respect and co-operate with each other, to encourage students to work for a just society, and to serve the needy. The main focus of the school's mission from 2009-2014 is to enhance the learning capacity of the students.[2]
Established in 1924 by Mr. Peter Tsui Yan Sau (徐仁壽, formerly a teacher at St. Joseph's College), WYK is one of the oldest and most prestigious secondary schools in Hong Kong, and was the first English-speaking college to be administered by local Chinese. During the 1930s, Mr. Tsui, himself a devout Catholic, saw the need of the pupils for greater spiritual guidance, decided to gradually hand over the administration to the incoming Jesuits, while the latter was seeking to serve in some local education establishments. Besides the two Wah Yan Colleges in Hong Kong and Kowloon, the Jesuits also sought to form a Catholic University in Hong Kong. Yet with the University of Hong Kong already established in 1911, the Jesuit fathers turned to organise a Catholic male hostel for its students, which hostel was to become Ricci Hall of the University. Mr. Tsui left Hong Kong and became a successful rubber planter and hotelier in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah of the British Malaya. He died in Hong Kong on 19 February 1981, age ninety three.
Before the Second World War, the school was located on Portland Street and later moved to Nelson Street in 1928. Under the auspice of A. E. Wood, then Secretary for Education, the school was added to the Grant List, and was hence under Government subsidies. A branch was also opened on Austin Road to cater for students in senior years, the premises becomes the Tak Sun Primary School after the war. A South China Morning Post article in 1928 reported the WYK to be the biggest school in Hong Kong with a student population of 500. Despite new facilities, however, senior students were still required to cross the Victoria Harbour for laboratory lessons at the Wah Yan College, Hong Kong.
In 1941, Hong Kong was attacked by the Japanese forces, the Jesuit priests of the College helped organise the evacuation of the Kowloon civilians to the Island as they closed down the school. During the occupation, the Japanese prohibited its resumption on political grounds. The Nelson Street campus was so thoroughly looted that, Mr. Chow Ching-nam (周淸霖), then Headmaster, could only salvage a small portion of school registers and documentations, and the students had to bring in their own chairs when the College reopened after the war.
Around 1947, the school authorities began the search for a new campus as its size further increased. A proposed acquisition of a site on Ho Man Tin Hill Road was turned down and after negotiations with the Government of Hong Kong, a piece of former paddy field was granted, and it moved to the current premises on Waterloo Road in 1952. This provision of land was large by Hong Kong standards, making WYK one of the largest campus in the urban Hong Kong area. This precedent was soon followed in the case of land provision for the college, where the plot granted by the Government was also of significant size. The present campus was opened by the then Governor Sir Alexander Grantham in 1953. In 2005 a new annex of WYK was opened providing new science labs, music room, a Computer Assisted Learning Room (commonly called CAL Room) and a student activity room.
WYK is known as the cradle of new Chinese ink painting movement in recognition of an experimental teaching method pioneered by former Arts teacher Mr. Laurence Tam (譚志成)in the late 1960s. Mr. Tam left WYK in 1971 to become a curator of the Hong Kong Museum of Art.
On 22 February 2011, the School Management Committee passed a motion to join the "Voluntary Class Structure Optimization Scheme" introduced by the Education Bureau of the HKSAR Government. The members of the School Management Committee were as follows:
Rev. Chow Sau Yan Stephen, S.J. (School Supervisor)
Ms. Chan Tak Hong (Member)
Ms. Chau Suk Man Eva (Assistant Principal)
Rev. George Zee S.J. (Member)
Mr. Hau Kit Tai (Member)
Mr. Keung Yiu Ming (Stanislaus) (Member)
Mr. Lam Wan Ho Godfrey (Member)
Ms. Law Kit Mee (Member)
Rev. Leung Chung Yat Thomas, S.J. (Member)
Mr. Tam Siu Ping (Member)
Dr. Tan Kang John (Principal)
Rev. William Lo, S.J. (Member)
Mr. Kan Yat Cheung Eric (Assistant Principal)
Mr. Yu Chun Sing Sam (Member)
After 4 hours of meeting, the committee had resolved to join the Government's scheme under the condition that the Education Bureau should provide the committee with documental proof that showed the school would enjoy priority to expand the size of intake when the population rises again in the future. Fr. Stephen Chow, S.J., however, denied that there was a resolution in front of the press. On the next day, a press release was uploaded to the school's website, saying that the Bureau had agreed to offer such priority. After the investigation by Apple Daily, it was found to be a lie. The Bureau explained that the offer for Wah Yan College, Kowloon was no priority. Such right is shared by all participating schools in this scheme.
In the press release also found a letter signed by Rev. Alfred Deignan, S.J., Chairman of Jesuit Education Board, which went, "We seek to give good quality education and we do not aim at providing Jesuit Education to as many students as possible, when the students cannot receive the individual help and care which they need." It shocked and saddened the student population and alumni of the school. This saying was thought to be very unconvincing by the old boys, as Rev. Deignan himself was at that time also Chairman of Wah Yan One Family Foundation, a HK$ 84 million fund that sponsored Small Class Teachings in the two Wah Yan Colleges.
Alumni of Wah Yan College, Kowloon were disgruntled with Dr. John Tan the principal for the intransparency of the administration and his inclination towards the Government. The only consultation with alumni was held only three days before the School Management Committee's meeting. There was no consultation with parents too; nonetheless, some alumni believed that Ms Law Kit Mee, Chairlady of the Parents' Association should have voted for the principal's proposal in the meeting due to the extraordinarily close relations between Dr. Tan and the Association. Alumni suspected that the motion was passed through political manipulation.
Hundreds of current students and alumni changed their Facebook profile pictures to a School Badge in black and white color to express their disappointment since the news broke. On 25 February 2011, before the school began, some students tried to organize a petition against the school management's breach of Wah Yan tradition of providing Jesuit education to poor boys in the community. However, due to the school's intervention, it was later cancelled at the same day.