Indonesian, Dental Officers In City

Press, Volume C, Issue 29682, 28 November 1961, Page 2

Indonesian, Dental Officers In City

A shortage of schools in newly-independent Indonesia has caused sections of the community to raise funds and build their own. A group of women in East Java recently raised sufficient to build a coeducational technical school, which is now under Government auspices. Opened last year with 100 enrolled pupils and eight classrooms, the school, which is not yet completed. now has 250 pupils. .Technical subjects taught are home-building, and there is an electrical course.

Among the women who gave much of their time and energy to raising funds for the school building was Mrs letik Kresno, who is at present in Christchurch. With Mrs Djoen Tiang Tan. Mrs Kresno is in New Zealand under the Colombo Plan to study school dental services and the teaching of school dental nurses. She is the principal dental officer of the school clinic in Madium, East Java. Mrs Tan is supervisor of a school for dental nurses in Bandung. Also a qualified dentist, she will soon open a private practice. Although both women felt they had gained much from their New Zealand visit, particularly in administration, they found the value of the tour difficult to assess. Indonesian training schools were run on similar lines to those in New Zealand, they said, but methods used in the Dominion could not be followed exactly in Indonesia; they must be adapted. Schoo! dental clinics were still uncommon in Indonesia. Mrs Tan said. The first were instituted about 10 years ago in the major population centres. But children did not have nearly so many dental caries *s did New Zealand youngsters. because sugar and sweet foods were still not an integral part of the diet, as in the Dominion. Both women lead extremely busy lives, with full-

time jobs. Mrs Kresno has four children. As a Government official she works all day, and most of her evenings are taken up with meetings or entertaining. But unlike most Western women, who lead equally full lives, her home is not full of electrical appliances to make life easier. Instead, she employs four servants. “It’s cheaper to have servants than a modern home,” she explained. This was because of the electric-power restrictions in Indonesia, and the high tax on electrical appliances. However, like most places nowadays, servasts were hard to come by For most girls, factory jobs were more attractive, offering fixed hours and higher wages Mrs Kresno's children have to do their share of household chores, her twin boys helping with the gardening, and her two girls doing indoor jobs such as ironing. "This is part of their upbringing,” Mrs Kresno said "If they are to supervise servants in their own homes they must know how to do the work themselves.” Mrs Tan and Mrs Kresno are in New Zealand for two months. They have spent a month in the North Island and will be in Christchurch for a fortnight. Their first week in the city will be -pent at the dental nurses’ training school, and next week will be devoted to district dental health