The Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien College (SOASC), natively known as (MSOAS), is a

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

boys'

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

Bandar Seri Begawan Bandar Seri Begawan (BSB) is the capital and largest city of Brunei. It is officially a Municipalities of Brunei, municipal area () with an area of and an estimated population of 100,700 as of 2007. It is part of Brunei–Muara District, the s ...

, the capital of

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

. It is the first English secondary school in the country. The school is also one of the only three boys' secondary schools nationwide, with the other two being Muda Hashim Secondary School and Ma'had Islam Brunei (Brunei Islamic College). The school provides five years of secondary education leading up to

GCE 'O' Level GCE can mean: * Galactic Center GeV excess * Gas Control Equipment, GCE Group, Sweden * General Certificate of Education * Global citizenship education * Google Compute Engine * Ground combat element in the United States Marine Corps * Guthrie Corri ...

and

IGCSE The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising ...

qualification.

Namesake

The school is named in honour of

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

Omar Ali Saifuddien III Omar Ali Saifuddien Sa'adul Khairi Waddien (Jawi script, Jawi: ; 23 September 1914 – 7 September 1986) was the 28th Sultan of Brunei, reigning from 1950 until his abdication in 1967 to his oldest son, Hassanal Bolkiah. Over the course of his ...

. Brunei saw substantial changes under the 17-year rule of the late Sultan. The Melayu Islam Beraja (MIB) concept, which serves as the nation's guiding ideology, was also developed by him. He also initiated social and economic reform to ready his people for the restoration of the state's sovereign powers, which had been initiated by his predecessor and sparked by the Brunei nationalist movement around the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

First and second intake brunei town government english school

In Brunei, there was only access to

primary education Primary education is the first stage of Education, formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary education. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or first schools and middle s ...

prior to

. The

government of Brunei The Government of Brunei is the union government created by the constitution of Brunei where by the Sultan of Brunei is both head of state and head of government ( Prime Minister of Brunei). Executive power is exercised by the government. Brune ...

established the Education Department in 1951. To encourage English education among Bruneians, the Brunei Town Government English School was founded in Brunei Town on 15 October 1951. Two qualified instructors, one from Malaya and one from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, worked at the school. Their choices—likely made in conjunction with the State Education Officer—have had a long-lasting effect on Brunei's

educational system The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...

, as seen by the numerous practices that were implemented at the time and are still in use today. At the time of the establishment, the school functioned as a preparatory school. It was also the first government school in the country which provided education in the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

. Since Brunei did not have an official English education system, the school did not initially have any students. As a result, English courses were introduced at Primary 4 at four chosen

primary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. The age at which English-medium education started in Brunei was set by the more gifted students who got extra tuition from the State Education Officer prior to starting school. The school eventually renamed to Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien College in 1955. It later became the first school to provide

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

in the country. It was gradually implemented, beginning in 1953 with the introduction of Form 1. By 1957, the school had all five years of the secondary education and for the first time the Cambridge Overseas School Certificate examination, a precursor to

, was conducted at the school in that year for its Form 5 students. Because the British utilised Sultan Muhammad Jamalul Alam Malay School as a military base during the 1962

Brunei revolt The Brunei revolt () or the Brunei rebellion of 1962 was a December 1962 insurrection in the British protectorate of Brunei by opponents of its monarchy's proposed inclusion in the Federation of Malaysia. The insurgents were members of the ...

, the school was temporarily moved to SOAS College. SOAS College in collaboration with Army Cadet Team (), created the SOAS College Military Cadet.

Notable people

Notable staff

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...

, British writer and composer *

Roderick Yong Roderick Yong Yin Fatt (; born 6 November 1932) is a retired Bruneian educator and diplomat who made history as the first Bruneian and the seventh Secretary-General of ASEAN, serving from 1986 to 1989. He played a pivotal role in Brunei's Educati ...

, diplomat and educator

Notable alumni

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Hassanal Bolkiah Muiz'zaddin Wad'daulah (born 15 July 1946) is the Sultan of Brunei since 1967, and prime minister of Brunei since its independence from the United Kingdom in 1984. He is one of the few remaining absolute monarchs in the worl ...

, the current

Sultan of Brunei The Sultan of Brunei is the monarchical head of state of Brunei and head of government in his capacity as prime minister of Brunei. Since independence from the British in 1984, only one sultan has reigned, though the royal institution dates bac ...

* Prince Jefri Bolkiah, a member of Wazir *

Prince Mohamed Bolkiah Mohamed Bolkiah ibni Omar Ali Saifuddien III (born 27 August 1947) is a member of the House of Bolkiah, royal family of Brunei. He is the second son of Omar Ali Saifuddien III, the 28th Sultan of Brunei, and Raja Isteri (Queen) Queen Damit of ...

, a member of Wazir * Prince Sufri Bolkiah, a member of Wazir *

Pengiran Anak Mohammad Yusof Pengiran Anak Mohammad Yusof (24 June 1948 – 13 December 2004) was a Bruneian Civil service, civil servant and member of the House of Bolkiah, royal family, having been Queen Saleha of Brunei, Queen Saleha's brother and the spouse of Princess ...

, a member of

Cheteria The Cheteria are a group of noble dignitaries within the Brunei, Sultanate of Brunei whose position ranks below the Vizier, Wazir (Vizier) but above the Manteri. Each carry specialised tasks and report directly to the List of sultans of Brunei, Su ...

* Abu Bakar Apong, politician and a member of

Manteri The Manteri (Minister (government), Minister or Officer) are a group of state dignitaries within the Brunei, Sultanate of Brunei whose position ranks the fourth-highest official in the country behind the List of sultans of Brunei, Sultan. There a ...

Abdul Rahman bin Ibrahim Abdul Rahman bin Haji Ibrahim (born 31 October 1954) is a Bruneian aristocrat, civil servant and politician who serve as a member of the Legislative Council of Brunei (LegCo) since 2023. He has formerly held office as the deputy minister of ...

, politician and a member of Manteri *

Zakaria Sulaiman Zakaria bin Haji Sulaiman (22 June 1937 – 1 November 2011) was a Bruneian aristocrat and politician who took office as the Ministry of Communications (Brunei), Minister of Communications from 1988 to 2005, and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affair ...

, politician and a member of Manteri * Pengiran Umar, police officer and a member of Cheteria *

Abidin Abdul Rashid Abidin bin Abdul Rashid (10 August 1939 – 22 November 2010) was a Bruneian aristocrat and civil servant of Tutong descent. He served as the first deputy minister of home affairs from 1986 to 2002 and was later appointed to the Privy Counci ...

, politician and a member of Manteri * Ali Mohammad Daud, politician and diplomat of Brunei * Pengiran Mohammad Abdul Rahman, politician and writer of Brunei * Hayati binti Mohd Salleh, lawyer * Salbiah binti Sulaiman, politician and a member of

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

Yang Berhormat Datin Paduka Dayang Hajah Salbiah binti Haji Sulaiman
Legislative Council * Hamdillah Abdul Wahab, politician * Goh King Chin, businessman and a member of Manteri * Eusoff Agaki Ismail, politician * Pengiran Bahrin, lawyer and a member of Cheteria * Ong Tiong Oh, businessman and a member of Legislative Council *

Lim Jock Seng Lim Jock Seng (; born 22 January 1944) is a Bruneian aristocrat, anthropologist, politician and diplomat who served as first Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Brunei), Minister of Foreign Affairs & Trade II. Additionally, he was a member of the Priv ...

, politician and a member of Manteri * Muslim Burmat, writer * Pengiran Anak Muhammad Bey Muntassir, a member of Cheteria * Ariffin Abdul Wahab, military officer and a member of Manteri * Ya'akub Zainal, police commissioner and a member of Manteri * Pengiran Shariffuddin, historian and monographer * Matussin Omar, historian and writer *

Mahmud Saedon Mahmud Saedon bin Othman (20 December 1943 – 24 June 2002) was a Bruneian writer and Muslim scholar. His proficiency in the legal and Islamic domains, served as the foundation for the nation's giving of diplomas in law and Syar'ie law. Additi ...

, Muslim scholar * Mariam Abdul Aziz, former royalty * Husin Ahmad, military officer and a member of Manteri * Abdul Aziz Umar, politician and a member of Manteri * Pengiran Asmalee, artist and diplomat * Pengiran Ismail, politician and architect * Yusoff Ismail, politician and diplomat * Abdul Mokti Daud, politician and diplomat * Judin Asar, civil servant and legislative councillor File:Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah - 53810840215.jpg, Hassanal Bolkiah,

File:Goh King Chin (2024).jpg, Goh King Chin, Member of

Legislative Council of Brunei The Legislative Council of Brunei ( Malay: ''Majlis Mesyuarat Negara Brunei''; Jawi: ; abbrev: Legco) is a national unicameral legislature of Brunei. The council comprises 36 appointed members, that only has consultative tasks. Under Brunei's 1 ...

File:Hayati Salleh on 22 November 2017.jpg, Hayati Salleh, 6th

Attorney General of Brunei The Attorney General's Chambers (AGC; ) is the public prosecutor of Brunei, and legal adviser to the Government of Brunei. The functions of the attorney general are carried out with the assistance of the deputy attorney-general and the solicitor- ...

File:Lim Jock Seng (2013).jpg, Lim Jock Seng, 1st Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade II File:Ariffin Abdul Wahab 2024.jpg, Ariffin Abdul Wahab, 2nd Commander of Training Institute Royal Brunei Armed Forces File:Abu Bakar Apong in 2019.jpg, Abu Bakar Apong, 5th

Minister of Home Affairs An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Gallery

File:Pusar Ulak 28 August 2023 01.jpg, The college in 2023 File:Dinding Maktab SOAS.jpg, Interior of the college in 2024 File:Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien College 02.jpg, The auditorium File:Seri Berunai Magazine.jpg, Seri Berunai magazine 1991 File:Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien College Surau 2024.jpg, The College

Surau A surau is an Islamic assembly building in some regions of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, used for worship and religious instruction. Generally smaller physical structures, their ritual functions are similar to those of a mosque, they admit ...

File:Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien College changes in logo 2024.jpg, Changes in logo (Physical) File:Sultan Omar 'Ali Saifuddien College library and Class of 64 library 2024 01.jpg, The College Library

References

{{Reflist Secondary schools in Brunei Cambridge schools in Brunei