North Korean high school students declining to take exams due to dim future

North Korean students are increasingly giving up on their final exams due to disillusionment with the Kim family regime, the country’s failing education system, and a lack of future prospects.
“Students at middle and high schools have been preparing for the final exams, but more than half of the students have lost motivation. Some students have had no choice but to withdraw from further education due to financial difficulties, but most of the male students find studying pointless as they serve in the army for 10 years after graduation,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on July 11.
“In North Korea, those students who can enter university are mostly assigned to senior middle school (high school) No.1 and all others are sent to ‘ordinary high schools,’ so the ‘ordinary students’ lose their enthusiasm for studying.”
Since the introduction of national mandatory military service in 2002, students from ordinary high schools have been prohibited from entering university immediately after graduation. Only a few students who are from families of privileged cadres, or those who graduated from the No. 1 Senior-Middle School or foreign language schools can enter university after graduation.
In addition, the teaching methods used in North Korea also impact the enthusiasm of students. North Korean schools hold classes on the revolutionary history of Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Suk (Kim Jong Il’s birth mother) on a daily basis and force students to memorize records by giving out the test questions ahead of the exams. Special lectures on Kim Jong Un’s history of revolution are also a frequent staple of North Korean middle and high schools, but the subject is not covered in exams.
“In schools, revolutionary history is regarded as more important than core subjects like Korean language, English, and mathematics. Teachers greatly emphasize the importance of memorization before the test, so the students are busy memorizing the test questions and answers even for subjects like mathematics, technology, physics, and chemistry,” said a source in North Pyongan Province.
In addition, the fact that students can receive excellent grades even if they don’t take the exams is being noted as a reason for the trend. North Korean teachers generally award excellent grades to their students to avoid criticism during the evaluation period for teachers and because they know the students lack the funds further study.