Hamhung kindergartens have recently been asking parents to cover the cost of computers as part of a computer literacy program, Daily NK has learned.
“Lately, kindergartens in Hamhung have been collecting money from parents for their children’s computer education. Kindergartens have to buy computers for a curriculum that will be introduced in April,” a source in South Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Tuesday.
Because of the computer curriculum that is set to be introduced in the new school year, kindergartens are taking steps to raise the funds needed to buy computers, the source said.
At the beginning of this month, a kindergarten in the Sapo District of Hamhung asked parents to pay KPW 300,000 won per student to purchase educational computers.
The additional fees have provoked resentment among parents, who are unsure where the extra money will come from when they are already struggling to make ends meet.
Being asked to pay the large sum of KPW 300,000 is bound to be burdensome for poor families who have a hard time keeping food on the table, the source said.
“Nobody is opposed to creating a positive educational environment for children. But people think the educational authorities ought to handle this themselves, instead of passing the cost on to individual parents,” the source said.
Beginning with the serious famine in the 1990s known as the “Arduous March,” the North Korean authorities have insisted that all sectors and organizations solve problems themselves based on the principles of self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
While the government developed the computer literacy program for kindergarten students, the kindergartens are expected to purchase the computers themselves. As a result, parents are the ones who end up shouldering the actual cost of the computers.
Notably, North Korean teachers cannot count on receiving the rations promised by the government, leaving parents with no choice but to chip in to provide for teachers’ livelihood, the source said.
“Parents can’t keep feeding the teachers forever, and they can’t fund a program that’s being run under government policy. Many are arguing that the educational authorities ought to foot the bill this time around,” he added.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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