LECTURER FROM BURMA

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26117, 20 May 1950, Page 5

LECTURER FROM BURMA

N.Z. VISIT ON UNESCO FELLOWSHIP

STUDY OF SOCIAL AND AGRICULTURAL WORK

As part of a six months’ study of agricultural and social work in New Zealand a lecturer at a mass education training centre in Burma is at present getting practiqal experience of farming methods in this country as a student at Canterbury Agricultural College, Lincoln. He is Mr Soe Tin, who has been granted a UNESCO fellowship to study agricultural extension work and is in New Zealand on a visit arranged by the Education Department.

Burma was a purely agricultural country and was endeavouring to raise the standard of its agricultural training, said Mr Soe' Tin. The Mass Education Training Centre at Rangoon, of which he was deputy cartip chief, had been established by the Burmese Ministry of Education partly for this purpose. Officers were trained in courses of 60 at a time and were sent out to the various districts. Emphasis was laid in the course on literacy, health, and hygiene, social welfare work, and agricultural work. The main problem of the country was to raise the standard of literacy for the implementation of democratic government. At present only about 56 per cent, of the men and 11.5 per cent, of the women in Burma were literate. At the same time efforts were being made to raise the standard of llv \ ng J b y improving agricultural methods. The country was mainly rice-growing and before the war there had been about 5,000,000 head of cattle and 1,000,000 head of buffalo. Most of these had been taken by the Japanese and the coutnry was now very short of cattle. In an effort to build up the cattle population an act had been recently passed making it illegal to kill cattle for any purpose. Burma was now returning to peaceful conditions, said Mr Soe Tin. When the British and Japanese had left the country they had left behind a lot of arms and ammunition, and many persons, -without money or agricultural implements, had taken to looting. The recently-announced peace-within-a-year policy of the Prime Minister (Mr Thakin Nu> had met with considerable success, however. When he left Burma there were only two areas controlled by Communist armed bands. One of these had since been overcome and the other would be soon. About 86 per cent. of tbe Burmese population was Buddhist, and as such violently opposed to Communism. There were also no extremes of rich and poor in the country as a social welfare policy had been put into practice by which a quarter of the income of those earning above a certain, wage was spent on welfare work. Mr Soe Tin will study at Lincoln for two months and will then go to Massey Agricultural College. He will also study Maori welfare work, broadcasting to schools, correspondence school work, and the work of young farmers’ clubs, agricultural instructors, and parent-teacher associations, during his visit. &

A compatriot of Mr Soe Tin, Mr Pu, is also in New Zealand on a UNESCO Fellowship. He is studying the artificial.insemination df farm animals at the Ruakura Research Station.