“No Serious Juvenile Delinquency In Asia”

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30106, 15 April 1963, Page 10

“No Serious Juvenile Delinquency In Asia”

(New Zealand Press Association)

OAMARU, April 14.

Co-education is no problem in South-east Asia, according to Mr A. Dick, member of Parliament for Waitaki, who has just returned from a fiveweek visit to the area.

“There is absolutely no serious juvenile delinquency and the people are very happy.” said Mr Dick. New Zealand had something to learn froi - these countries They were practically free of

sexual offences and crime was mainly confined to petty thefts.

Everywhere in South-east Asia there was a thirst for knowledge and the standard of education In Singapore and Malaya was extremely high. In Indonesia, where only 3 per cent, of the population could read and write when the Dutch were forced out, it was now estimated that 80 per cent, of the population was literate. One of the schools visited by Mr Dick was at Miri, originally the site of the Shell oilfields in North Borneo. It had 304 pupils, including 202 boarders, boys and girls. There were 11 races represented at the school and in addition, there were two kitchens. to cater for the wants of the different religious sects. The headmaster and two of the teachers were from New Zealand. Mr Dick said the party of New Zealand members of Parliament returned to the school at night to see the pupils doing their "prep" and were astounded to find that not only were the boarders present, but the majority of the day pupils. “There was not a prefect or a teacher in charge, yet you could have heard a pin drop," said Mr Dick. He could not imagine a school being conducted under similar conditions in New Zealand, said Mr Dick.