North Hwanghae Province recently ordered that young students mobilized for planting in farm fields be supplied with soy milk, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a reporting partner in North Hwanghae Province told Daily NK on Friday that “the party committee of North Hwanghae Province sent students in their fourth year of elementary school and older to help in rural villages. When it found out that young students were not getting their daily soy milk rations as a result, it ordered that the milk be supplied onsite in the rural villages.โ
According to the reporting partner, students in the fourth and fifth grade have been mobilized to help plant rice in May. Their classes have been suspended for the time being, and instead of going to school, they have been heading into the fields. However, they reportedly were unable to receive their daily soy milk rations while in the villages.
โThe soy milk delivery vehicles go to the schools every morning, but the fourth and fifth graders suffering with the farming support donโt go to school because itโs too difficult, so the milk just piled up in the classroom,โ the reporting partner said. โEven if teachers called students later in the day to come and drink the milk, none do, so the milk got thrown away or the teachers disposed of it on their own.โ
After receiving a report about this from the provincial office of education, the provincial party committee swiftly moved to deal with the situation, criticizing the failure to properly supply students with soy milk โ and the teachersโ arbitrary disposal of the milk โ an โact that ignores the partyโs interest and concern for the future generations.โ
According to the reporting partner, โThe provincial party committee ordered that soy milk vehicles be unconditionally sent to the agricultural villages so that the students can drink their soy milk at the same time that they did in their classrooms through the end of the planting mobilization period, saying it was quite commendable that young children were assisting with the farming to help the nation.โ
In particular, the provincial party committee reportedly issued a detailed order taking into account several circumstances. For example, in the event of inclement weather or other unfavorable circumstances, the milk should be supplied to the students on their way home after work in the fields rather than in the morning, and their teachers should make sure all students drink the milk that has been supplied – no exceptions.
The reporting partner said that the provincial party committee also ordered that the soy milk be supplied every annual rural mobilization period, and warned that if students do not properly receive their soy milk rations, the authorities would apply pressure on city and county supply centers and school managers.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.ย
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