In time for the visit of secretary of the Chosun Workers’ Party, Choe Ryong Hae, to Russia,
the country has been showing greater interest in education, North Korea’s Party-run Rodong Sinmun reported on Monday.
In an article titled, “Russia Puts More Emphasis on Education,” the
paper stated that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin,
while attending the 10th Russian University Chancellor’s
League Convention, emphasized to university presidents, “Universities need to be developed into schools of advanced skills,
and they should produce students who are equipped with the expertise and the
ability to implement their knowledge.”
This report comes as Choe, set to arrive in
Russia today, is expected to deliver a personal letter from Kim Jong Eun to
President Putin as part of North Korea’s efforts to
strengthen ties between the two nations.
The article went on, “During this convention, the issue of improving Russia’s higher education system, especially in terms of strengthening the
quality of education and foundation for resources and technology, was discussed
along with how to enhance activities in scientific research,” adding that one of the most serious problems Russia currently faces
is a lack of talented individuals.
“The quality of college education is poor,
and almost half of all university students study either law or economics,
creating a structural imbalance,” Putin said. “Especially when it comes to the issue of history and their
perceptions of it, the younger generations do not know who to look up to, who the heroes of their time were, and whether World War II even occurred,” he pointed out, according to the paper.
The paper reported that Putin stated, “Recently, historians and teachers have said during discussions that
the greatest error of a country is to have younger generations who do not know
the history of their own country.” Adding to this the
president announced, “The government has passed a law
that once again gives all university students free admission to museums, and it
has drawn up measures to prep researchers so that they may meet universities’ standards,” Rodong Sinmun reported.
“As a national measure, we will reduce the
varieties of textbooks and write them so they are in accordance with a universal
historical and cultural perspective. The basic principal of the new textbooks
will stress ideologies that denounce western thoughts of liberalism,” the Russian leader said.
“These new textbooks will emphasize that in
the 1990s, the evaluation of Stalin was distorted and that whatever it may
require, it is important to understand he made up one specific part of history,” Putin said, according to the daily.
The paper concluded, “Given that Putin considers the break-up of the Soviet Union ‘the greatest tragedy of the 20th century,’
it’s only natural that he thinks positively of the
former leader of the USSR.”
