North Korean authorities recently issued orders restricting the travel of teachers for the rest of the year as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Daily NK has learned.

“On Apr. 29, the education ministry issued a notice to all kindergartens, elementary schools, junior and senior middle schools (middle and high schools) and universities. The notice concerned instructions for the start of the semester and were [broadly] about preventing the spread of the virus,” a North Hamgyong Province-based source reported on May 10. 

The notice included a directive telling teachers that they must not travel until December. “Teachers, who are directly responsible for the education of our future generations, must set aside their personal affairs and lifestyles and instead prioritize the classes that have been delayed through a global pandemic, as well as the health of the students, who are the future pillars of the nation,” the order explained, according to the source. 

The directive does allow an exemption for teachers to travel when a parent has died, but they must still receive an official sign-off before they can receive a travel permit. 

The notice also stressed that “teachers must actively propose solutions for proceeding with lessons rather than thinking of the delayed classes as simply a national problem due to the coronavirus.” 

The notice also contained the warning that teachers would be responsible for the “movement” of their students, as well as a directive telling teachers to cooperate with the parents of students to come up with measures to ensure that there would be no lasting damage to the education of their students. 

“Each school must be vigilant in observing and reporting the movement of its students daily, and must establish a system to submit reports on these movements in a timely manner and to maintain total obedience until the pandemic is over,” the source said.  

Daily NK reported in April that North Korea’s education ministry had extended school vacations for high schools (first and second years), elementary schools, kindergartens and childcare centers until May 20.

*Translated by Violet Kim

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