XN000022-1976-01-14 — Page 4

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Wednesday, January 14, 1976

"Indeed I would go beyond this and say that if ever Hong Kong has an

open University system, or a system of external or part-time degrees, then the

evening adult education should be prepared to provide the basic facilities for

group seminars and tutorial work which are essential to any of those systems.

"Such developments are, of course, for the future but they illustrate

the emergent and evolutionary nature of an adult education system rooted in

a developing society."

Hong Kong.

Mr. Fisher-Short said there was much adult educators could do in

He said: "We have social problems with drugs, corruption, morality; we

must re-inforce our drive to civic cleanliness, public health, conservation;

family affairs, consumer affairs, worker education merit greater concern. All

these areas are legitimate fields for the adult educator. To limit our non-

academic programmes to recreation and enrichment in the narrow sense is to deny

the public we serve an opportunity for personal and social development."

Adult educators, he said, were in direct contact with the community

they served and were best placed to appreciate those needs and to bring them

to the attention of the Government.

Note to Editors: Copies of the full text of Mr. Fisher-Short's speech in

English are distributed separately in the Press Boxes,

Government Information Services this evening.

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