Students who recently sat for a Kangwon Distance Learning University entry exam had to retake the test after power outages shut down the remotely administered exam, Daily NK has learned. The university is a satellite campus of the Kim Chaek University of Technology.
According to a Daily NK reporting partner in Kangwon Province on Friday, power outages struck at a provincial library where students gathered to take the remotely administered test from late February to early March. In response to the outages, the Cabinet’s Education Commission ordered that the tests be nullified, and they were re-held a week later with new exam questions.
The Cabinet’s Education Commission treated the outages very seriously, sending a stern warning to the education department of Kangwon Province and a notification to the province’s party committee, the reporting partner said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
North Korea’s distance learning universities are remotely taught affiliates of Pyongyang-based universities at provincial universities or on-site universities at factories. Remote university classes and remote exams were adopted in accordance with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s policy to promote science and technology skills across the population.
Unlike ordinary university entry exams, where students gather at the provincial seat to take a national entry exam, followed by another entry exam proffered by — and taken at — individual universities, entry exams for distance learning universities are conducted remotely via a computer network.
This year, students trying to enter Kim Chaek University of Technology’s Kangwon Distance Learning University took the test at the provincial library, which had a computer network. However, the test venue did not have a redundant system to ensure power, so the test was ultimately voided after blackouts took place.
The authorities hurriedly bolstered equipment such as turbines and voltage regulators, and the Cabinet’s Education Commission proffered the exam again a week later after putting together new test questions.
In North Korea, individual university entry exams are usually held from late February to early March. That blackouts occurred during this important period provides a glimpse of just how serious the country’s energy shortages are.
Daily NK’s reporting partner said the Education Commission took to task the education department of Kangwon Province “because it didn’t properly execute the order requiring redundant systems to ensure power to university libraries and workplace science and technology supply rooms where the entry exams for the distance learning universities of Pyongyang-based universities are held, nor did it carry out an re-inspection before the exams were held.” He added, “The provincial education department and heads of the power transmission stations wrote self-criticism letters and received warnings.”
North Korea amended its constitution in 2019, with Article 40 changed from “making the entire society intellectual” to “making all the people well-versed in science and technology.” North Korea has been emphasizing the realization of “making all the people well-versed in science and technology,” a central goal of North Korean education policy under Kim Jong Un, but various challenges continue to plague progress on this pledge.
The reporting partner said the entry tests for distance learning universities finished as scheduled in other provinces, but Kangwon Province’s universities barely finished theirs after being re-held a week later due to the blackouts. “Since the program was founded, it was the first time Kim Chaek University of Technology’s Kangwon Distance Learning University had to reset the test questions and hold the exam again,” he said.
“The provincial education department ordered a re-inspection of university libraries and workplace science and technology supply rooms that did not have the required redundant systems to ensure [adequate] power and eradicate the problem,” 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. 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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