North Hamgyong Province’s education department recently drew up plans to improve access to education for children who are unable to attend school due to physical disabilities or difficult family conditions, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, a reporting partner in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that “the provincial education department analyzed surveys conducted by local city and county educational authorities regarding students who have been unable to attend school. It then drew up a plan for teachers to conduct classes at the homes of those suffering from difficult family circumstances or disabilities. The plan was then sent to the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.”
North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang already has educational facilities for the disabled, but areas outside of the capital region typically have neither the money nor the manpower to build such facilities. Faced with such circumstances, North Hamgyong Province is pushing forward plans to conduct home-based teaching for disabled children.
“In fact, the provincial education department determined that not a single disabled child in North Hamgyong Province attends school or is receiving education based on socialist educational doctrine,” the reporting partner said.
In response to this situation, the provincial education department handed down orders that physically disabled children be educated based on what is appropriate for their age, although mentally disabled children are to be excluded from efforts to improve education accessibility for now. Meanwhile, children who have not received any formal education should be given education aimed at teaching them the fundamentals of the Korean language and math, the reporting partner said.
The department also ordered that educators should take time to discuss the matter with parents and get them and their disabled children to comfortably accede to the initiative, which will require altering class times and curricula.
Upon learning that the provincial education department crafted the home teaching plan and issued relevant instructions, parents of disabled children are enthusiastically welcoming the move, expressing “gratitude that teachers are coming to their homes to teach,” the reporting partner said.
According to the reporting partner, some parents have even shed tears of joy about the provincial government’s plans, saying: “Even if teachers don’t come to our home, if our disabled children can receive an education, we would carry them on our back and cross mountains and rivers and even go to the ends of heaven.”
The provincial education department plans to entrust the home teaching efforts to educators who can teach multi-subject, comprehensive classes. It plans to keep classes going during vacations, with teachers alternating classes as required, the reporting partner said.
“If the Central Committee ratifies the plan, the home teaching efforts will likely begin from June at the earliest,” he added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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