North Korean teachers are unable to continue teaching due to financial difficulties, a development that provides a peek into how North Korea’s poor economic situation is negatively impacting the country’s public education system.
“Five teachers at the Posong Middle School in Samsu County quit earlier this month,” a Ryanggang Province-based source told Daily NK. “They were under a lot of pressure to improve their teaching along with a lot of financial stress.”
According to the National Report submitted by North Korea in February as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process, North Korea’s Education Committee is carrying out the 5-Year Strategy for the Development of Education (2015-2032). The report stated that North Korean authorities designated 2017 and 2018 as the Years of Science and Education, respectively, and are working to improve the country’s secondary level educational environment.
North Korean authorities may have pressured teachers to improve the quality of their teaching. The teachers may have decided to quit their jobs after facing more pressure at work and found it impossible to stay afloat with the low pay they were receiving.
North Korean elementary and secondary school teachers receive just 4,000 KPW per month, which is not even enough to buy one kilogram of rice.
Moreover, the poor harvest last year due to drought and intense heat has led to decreases in rations given to state workers, and this may influence teachers’ decision to quit their jobs.
“The authorities say that they take care of their teachers by providing them with rations and enough money to live on, but recently the amount of expenditures spent by local governments on education has fallen a great deal,” said the source. “The fall in education expenditures is likely due to the decrease in production last year.”
The DPRK Rapid Food Security Assessment, which was published by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) on May 3 observed that intense heat and drought caused food production to fall by a significant amount.
“Authorities are saying they provide food rations to teachers on a priority basis,” added the source. “Teachers, however, complain that they can’t remember the last time they received rations this year.”
There are now rumors among North Koreans that teachers quitting their jobs is reminiscent of the Arduous March (widespread famine) period of the mid-to late 1990s.
During that period, teachers failed to receive both monthly wages and rations and faced very difficult circumstances. Now, some North Koreans say, the teachers are facing a similar situation.
“The fall in family disposable income due to the country’s economic troubles has led to a decrease in the amount of bribes parents can give to teachers,” a source in North Hamgyong Province added.
“Teachers relied on bribes, but now that they aren’t receiving them their financial circumstances are very difficult.”
A former teacher in North Korea told the Daily NK that “there are two types of teachers who are quitting their jobs. The first type is those who can’t go to work because they are tired and hungry. The second type is those who quit their teaching jobs to get another job.”
“Teachers are appointed by municipal committees and people’s committees, unlike regular workers, so if a teacher decides to quit they are given a regular job,” she said.
“Once in their new jobs, many teachers just pretend to work there while really earning money in local markets.”
