North Korean schools are openly charging fees to excuse students from farmwork as the country’s annual rice transplantation begins.
According to a source in South Hamgyong province, several high schools in Hamhung have recently accepted payments from students seeking exemption from spring farmwork duties.
May is typically when mass mobilization for rice transplanting occurs, with high school students usually sent to stay at assigned farms throughout the month. However, the harsh living and working conditions have led more families to seek ways to avoid this obligation.
Schools have adapted by encouraging parents to pay for exemptions, a practice that has become so established that parents now anticipate it. In mid-April, some parents asked teachers when this year’s farmwork waivers would be available.
“Children mobilized for farmwork don’t receive proper meals or hygiene, and most return sick. Parents are willing to pay significant amounts to keep their children off the mobilization list,” the source explained.
Before farmwork begins, North Korean schools determine how many students per class can be exempted, the fee structure, and how proceeds will be distributed.
This year, most Hamhung high schools decided to exempt three students per class. At one school, the payment scheme requires one student to pay $100 for school operations, another $60 for class expenses, and a third $40 for the teacher’s compensation.
The most affordable option is being selected by the homeroom teacher, costing only $40. Consequently, parents compete for this opportunity by visiting teachers’ homes with gifts of food and household items while hinting their child should be chosen.
“During mobilization season, parents work to build relationships with teachers by helping with their financial struggles or caring for sick family members. Teachers end up favoring children whose parents maintain regular contact,” the source noted.
Authorities turn a blind eye
Educational authorities know about these practices but generally ignore them, reluctant to intervene when they don’t provide adequate school funding.
“Students feel disheartened knowing some classmates remain comfortably in school while others toil in the fields. They recognize this system perpetuates inequality, where poverty guarantees hardship. Schools engaging in these practices undermine their credibility as legitimate educational institutions,” the source concluded.
