THE EARLY YEARS
In November 1989, the Late Dato’ Dr. Padmanathan, President of the Perak Association for the Mentally Retarded or PAMR as it was earlier known, had a meeting with the President of the Lioness Club of Sitiawan.
The meeting which was held at the Sitiawan Recreation Club was also attended by a few PAMR Council members, Council members of the Lioness Club of Sitiawan and some civic minded individuals from the local community.
The school was to be the branch of the main school run by the PAMR at Kg. Tawas in the Perak State capital township of Ipoh. That main school and its branches are called Sekolah Semangat Maju which in the National language means “Progressive Spirit School”.
With the untiring effort of the Lioness Club of Sitiawan, the Sekolah Semangat Maju Sitiawan (SMSS) started in March, 1990 with 9 children at a rented 3-room semi-detached house in No. 13, Taman Sitiawan.
The first group of office-bearers to manage the SSMS was Yang Mulia Raja Toran bin Raja Shariman as Chairman, Mr. Saminathan as the Hon. Secretary and Mr. Khaw Eng Aun as the Hon. Treasurer. The first and only teacher was Ms. Malaysia Sathiavani and Ms. Ganthimathi who was the housekeeper.
In 1993, when Mr. R. Udaya Bhanu stepped down as Chairman, Mr. Khaw Eng Aun took over the leadership. During his tenure in office, the student enrolment and the number of teachers increased many fold.
During his tenure as President of SSMS, the School was relocated in 1997 to a pair of rented double storey dwelling houses at No. 98 and 99 Taman Sri Jaya. The relocation was necessary to accommodate more classroom space following an increase in enrolment from the initial 9 pupils to almost 60 students and a subsequent need for more teachers.
The premises was fortunately only a few feet away diagonally opposite the former school premises belonging to Past Hon.Treasurer Madam Chia Hock Suan.
In February 2005 SSMS was again relocated to the present rented premises at 75, Jalan Datuk Ahmad Yunus, Sitiawan. The double storey building which housed the former Sitiawan Maternity Hospital is under the trust and management of the Kg. Koh Welsley Church.
After 12 years of excellent service to the school, Mr. Khaw Eng Aun handed his leadership to Mr. K. Muthu of the Lions Club of Sitiawan who took over as the present Chairman of SSMS since September 2005.
