Ahead of the new semester this year, North Korea has forced students to pay more so-called “non-tax burdens” than ever before, Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, a source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK last Tuesday that “all elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and universities demanded heavy non-tax burdens from each student at the start of the new semester. The demands came after a state order to celebrate the Apr. 1 school opening like a national event.”
According to the source, North Korea ordered provincial, city, county, party and state officials to personally attend the school opening ceremonies “with the heart of a parent.” Principals and other educators required their students to contribute a large number of non-tax burdens to look good in front of the officials.
In Chongjin, schools ordered students to pay non-tax burdens in accordance with school conditions. Chongjin Pedagogical University, for example, asked its students to contribute much more money than other schools a week before the start of classes, and issued an urgent appeal to modernize its teaching facilities and beautify the campus.
“Chongjin Pedagogical University wrote the amount it needed on a slip of paper and made the department heads pass it on to other students, while for incoming students, the school selected individual students to be temporarily in charge of each department and made them pass the slip around,” the source said. The school forced students to pay KPW 200,000 on average.
The note said, “You have about 10 days. In that time, pay the money quickly and enter the school gate honorably. If you don’t have the money, we can always negotiate, because you can also bring coal, wood, gasoline, or other goods that can be exchanged for money.”
In handing out the note, Chongjin Pedagogical University said the demand was unavoidable so that students could study in a civilized and modernized school by improving the educational environment. At the same time, it called on students to contribute the non-tax burden “without difficulty.”
“Most university students complained that the huge amount was burdensome, and some students couldn’t pay because of financial difficulties,” the source said. “But what’s even more annoying is that the school asked students to pay more on the day of the opening of classes because it still didn’t have enough money for the event.”
Schools ask their students for non-tax burdens every year. This year, however, they are asking for a lot, and as things get worse rather than better over time, students and ordinary people are complaining that “not even a trace of free socialist education remains.
The source said that new students at the university – shocked that they had to shoulder heavy non-tax burdens even before they set foot on campus – complained that they “have to continue to contribute non-tax burdens, and don’t know if they can bear it until they graduate.”
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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