Daily NK
Yoon Il Geun
10/21/2007
Since the 10th, registration for new students at the Foreign Language High School, International High School, and other special-purpose high schools in Gyeonggi Province started for the 2008 school year. According to the Gyeonggi Department of Education, over 19,000 students out of 156,000 students sat for the examination for special high schools displaying the fervor for special-purpose high schools.
“Special-purpose high schools” also exist in North Korea and the efforts by parents to send their children to these schools are highly cut-throat.
North Korea has free education system, but it is not an exaggeration to say that Senior-middle school education (equivalent to high schools in South Korea) is an elite education for a minority of students entering “special-purpose high schools.”
North Korea’s compulsory education system, in contrast with South Korea, is an 11-year required education system, which consists of 1 year of pre-school, 4 years of elementary school, and 6 years of Senior-middle school.
North Korea’s special-purpose Senior-middle schools exist in the form of No. 1 Senior-middle Schools. foreign language schools and art schools in each site, including Pyongyang. The most-representative special-purpose high school is the No. 1 Senior-middle School, equivalent to South Korea’s Science High School.
Only graduates from the No. 1 Senior-middle School can go onto college
“Pyongyang No. 1 Senior-middle School,” “Shinuiju No. 1 Senior-middle School,” and other schools with the name “No. 1 Senior-middle School” are a type of advanced schools for gathering and educating prodigies.
After Pyongyang No. 1 Senior-middle School was established in 1984 until 1985, such schools were built in each city under the direct control of the central government. 20-some schools were in operation and starting in 1999, up to 200 schools were set up in districts and counties across the country.
Afterwards, with reactions such as increased competitiveness and demand for the expansion of university quotas for No. 1 Senior-middle Schools, the number of schools was reduced again and presently, only one is left per city. In Pyongyang, there are “Pyongyang No. 1 Senior-middle School,” a mid-level school for advanced students, and three other special schools–“East Pyongyang No. 1 Senior-middle School,” “Changduk Senior-middle School,” and “Moranbong No. 1 Senior-middle School.” The children of the Party leaders can enter these schools regardless of their grades. In North Korea, granting special privileges for children of leaders is a normal occurrence.
In the provinces, elementary school graduates whose grades excel and have a talent in language and sciences are selected for Korean, mathematics, and natural science subject tests. Only by passing all preparatory exams in each region (per district) and formal exams administered by schools can one enter a No. 1 Senior-middle school.
In No. 1 Senior-middle schools, textbooks which differ from average Senior-middle schools are used and education conditions next to college, such as dormitories and modern laboratories are offered. Further, top teachers, degree holders for example, are stationed by priority.
Reputable colleges all filled with No. 1 Senior-middle school graduates
Graduates from No. 1 senior-middle schools go onto Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology, Pyongyang Medical College, and medical schools, science schools, and top universities in each city. In college, they are educated in advanced classes separately formed for them.
When the all-civilian public service (military service duty system) was implemented in 2000, the effort of parents trying to send their children to No. 1 middle schools doubled. In the North, only graduates from No. 1 middle schools can immediately progress to college and the rest have to wait until the completion of their military duty.
Graduates from other middle schools have to go to the army, construction sites, or the field. Besides No 1. middle schools, college entrance quotas, with the exception of a few, are not even issued for average middle schools.
Moreover, among special-purpose middle schools in North Korea is a foreign language school equivalent to the Foreign Language High School in South Korea. Here, English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese and other foreign language are exclusively taught. Entrance exams for the language school are just as competitive to entrance exams for No. 1 middle schools. The foreign school also selects distinguished students among graduates of elementary schools.
Foreign language school graduates enter Kim Il Sung University’s Foreign Language and Culture Department, Pyongyang Foreign Language University, Kim Hyong Jik College of Education, Pyongyang Commerce School, Yalu River University (the foreign language university within the army), and foreign language and literature departments of master schools in each city. However, the volume of students moving onto college from foreign schools is smaller than No. 1 middle schools School graduates.
In North Korea’s special-purpose senior-middle schools there are also arts schools. In Pyongyang, there are “Geumsung No. 1 and No. 2 Senior-middle School” and arts schools in each city. Graduates of arts schools can advance onto Pyongyang Music and Dance College, Pyongyang Film and Theater School, etc. or can join performing arts groups or a military unit.
Recently in North Korea, the phenomenon of receiving special tutoring from talented teachers, who were monthly compensated with rice and money, increased in order to aid admission into special-purpose high schools.
