school The closure of the Penang Hua Chiao High School in 1921 from financial difficulties and lack of leadership after the death of Tye Kee Yoon had negative implications on the development of early secondary education in Penang. There was a dire need at the time for a replacement school to cope with the rising amount of newly graduated primary students. Tan Xin Cheng proposed in an article (dated 15 December 1920) to expand the primary-school into a middle-school. On 11 November 1922, a meeting was set up by Khaw Seng Lee (by then the chairman of the Board of Governors), Lim Fuquan and Wang Wenqu (educator and revolutionary), and 9 other prominent Chinese figures to discuss the issue. Wang Deqing, the deputy chairman of the Board of Governors, suggested the conversion of the school to include secondary education. The plan was subsequently agreed and a preparation committee was formed. The school was renamed, to the "Chung Ling High School" (Chinese: 鍾靈中學校). Equipment of the school was supported by the now defunct Hua Chiao High School. On 20 January 1923, Chung Ling High School commenced its courses, officially becoming a joint-primary and secondary school. Ko In Beng (顾因明, b.1881), a graduate of Fudan and a former teacher at Pudong High School, was invited to be the first joint-provost of Chung Ling High School. Ko was a poet and was employed as an English translator by the Straits government. His tenure laid the importance of both Chinese and English as standard subjects, combining the best of two into a mixed curriculum system. English classes were introduced for the first time to raise the language standards of the students for practical usage. This system is still widely implemented in the school today. In 1924, he established a new motto for the high school: 誠愛 (English: Honesty and Love or Honesty and Passion). The high school had 182 students and 9 teachers, covering five different grades, ranging from two years of pre-secondary education to three years of lower-secondary education. Early education reports at the time recorded the school's tuition fees at 4 yuan for lower-secondary courses and 2-and-a-half yuan for pre-secondary courses. Ten percent of the students were exempted from payment. Entrance exams, on the other hand were paid by the Board of Governors. The following year, to counter the ever-expanding enrollment, an expansion was made on the campus, involving two buildings east