North Korean teachers-in-training were recently sent to middle and high schools to gain professional experience, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a reporting partner in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Thursday that “in late April, trainee teachers at universities of education were dispatched to the province, where they are teaching classes in the morning before heading to the fields.”
The teacher training program had been suspended for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was restarted after the authorities judged that the situation has stabilized.
Aimed at giving teachers-in-training a better understanding of the school curricula and extracurricular activities as well as practical experience with state educational doctrine and theory, the program is part of a teacher training course carried out under the auspices of the Cabinet Education Committee.
According to the reporting partner, the education committee noted the importance of restarting the teacher training program during the country’s general rural mobilization period, calling on teachers-in-training to do their best to bolster the patriotism of their students.
The education committee also called on teachers-in-training to develop professionalism and character so that middle and high schoolers feel no difference between the trainees and their actual teachers.
Moreover, the committee instructed the trainees to file daily individual reports on their practicals, and for universities to evaluate the reports and reflect them in the grades given to the teachers-in-training.
The program for teachers-in-training is expected to last two months, the reporting partner added.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of reporting partners who live inside North Korea and China. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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