Fewer North Korean parents want their children to attend kindergarten these days in some areas of the country, Daily NK has learned.
“The number of parents enrolling their children in kindergartens in Hyesan has dropped sharply. Class sizes at regular kindergartens are expected to drop from an average of 20 children to about 10 this year. And in kindergartens that offer lessons in musical instruments such as piano, cello and violin, enrollment is down to a third of the normal level this year,” a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The spring semester in North Korean kindergartens, like all schools in the country, begins on Apr. 1. It is typical for parents of young children to have chosen their kindergartens by early March, pulling strings or paying bribes to ensure their children are under the tutelage of a talented teacher.
But this year, the number of visits by parents to get the best available teacher for their little ones has reportedly dropped to five per kindergarten. The main reason, the source said, is that families are not in a financial position to send their children to kindergarten.
“Although kindergartens are nominally free, everything costs money. People who can barely afford three meals a day hardly have the resources to send their children to kindergarten,” the source said.
Kindergartens that teach musical instruments have only two or three children enrolled per class, with the spring semester just days away on Apr. 1. This year’s enrollment is down significantly from previous years, when there were about six or seven students per class.
Faced with this predicament, kindergarten teachers doubt they will be able to put food on the table. While teachers used to collect enough kickbacks from parents to support a comfortable lifestyle, they say that is all in the past.
“Before COVID-19, we used to get about RMB 200-300 [USD 27 to 41] a month from parents, and some slipped us a little extra for paying special attention to their children. That made kindergarten teaching a decent job for young women preparing for marriage, but that’s not the case anymore,” said a piano teacher at a kindergarten in Hyesan.
“In regular kindergartens, parents have to provide everything from lunch bags to toilet paper. But kindergartens that teach instruments cost even more money, which makes parents even less inclined to enroll their children there,” the source said.
“Kindergarten teachers need large classes if they’re going to make a decent living. Since they don’t have that option right now, they resent the fact that they have to show up for work at all.”
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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