CLS has decided to leave the national education system with its last group of students graduating under the system in 2024.

A private school will be taking over the premises and will offer programmes based on a UK syllabus, the nuns who own the school said yesterday.

They cited high maintenance costs and low enrolment as reasons for opting out of the national system.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the state government remained committed to searching for an alternative parcel of land for the school’s successor, to ensure continuity for the students under the national system, but only if the education ministry wanted it.

“To date, there have been no requests received. It is up to the ministry to decide.

“I understand that it has become a trend for schools in urban areas to record a decline in enrolment, and CLS is no different,” he said on the sidelines of an event today.

Yesterday, the Sisters of the Holy Infant Jesus (SIJ) order, which runs CLS, said while the new private school would retain its identity, it would function as a co-ed institution.

It, however, did not give any indication of what would happen to another school it owns – Convent Pulau Tikus (CPT), which teaches the national syllabus.

In 2017, SIJ had sought to reclaim CLS, which teaches both the primary and secondary levels, from the education ministry. This led to speculation the school might be permanently closed amid opposition by the state government and a strong alumni body.

CLS was nationalised in 1971 and CPT, in 2005, with their operations controlled by the education ministry.

Both schools stopped accepting students in 2018, with the last batch of students to graduate in 2024.