Golf Assists Work In Burma

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31158, 7 September 1966, Page 9

Golf Assists Work In Burma

A New Zealand Colombo Plan adviser to the Ministry of Education, Burma, has been helped in his work by being a good golfer.

Mr A. R. Owen, formerly of Christchurch, said that the Burmese people were very independent and naturally suspicious of foreigners. This had tended to hamper the work.

But golf was a popular sport played by most of the Burmese he dealt with. Golf broke many barriers and improved his relations with the people, he said. Mr Owen is in New Zealand on leave for two months. Mr Owen, whose handicap was six, qualified for the Burma Amateur Open golf tournament in 1964 and 1965. Last year he was the only European competitor and finished eighth in a field of about 60. His work involved the building of two technical trade schools, at Rangoon and Taunggyi, introducing suitable courses and seeing that the schools are run on accepted educational principles. There are only three technical trade schools in Burma. The other is at Mandalay. He also advised the Director of Technical Education on importing suitable machinery for the schools. Mr Owen assisted the min-

istry on textbooks, curricula and teaching techniques. He also gave advice on classroom procedure to instructors. Each school catered for 360 students. The courses lasted for three years, said jMr Owen.

Mr Owen was educated at the Christchurch Technical College and served a fitting and turning apprenticeship with the Railways Department. In the Second World War he served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Pacific and for eight years was a marine engineer in the

Merchant Navy. He entered Auckland Teachers’ Training College in 1955 and was later appointed to Otorohanga College where he established the technical department.

In 1962 he left New Zealand to take up an appointment as a U.N.E.S.C.O. adviser in Nigeria. For two years Mr Owen was

in charge of mechanical engineering at the Government Technical Institute at Enugu and was also responsible for the training of technical teachers.

Mr Owen's initial appointment in Burma was for two years but, at the request of the Ministry of Education, he will return for another term in October.