＜Inside N. Korea＞ Student absenteeism on the rise due to excessive requisition from school; a third of students are absent from school in local cities.

2016.12.19

A primary school with the slogan, “Thank you, the beloved Dear Leader Kim Jong-un”. November 2012, in Sinuiju, North Pyongan Province. Taken by our Team “Mindeulle” (ASIA PRESS)

Students being bullied and left out at school

If one student cannot offer the requisites to their school, every student in his/her class becomes responsible and the whole class gets punished. It is such a serious issue that those who are not able to turn in the materials are bullied by the students who have.

Our reporting partner added that, “students from affluent families can quickly present the materials of this “taxation”, but they also need to pick up scrap iron after school because of the other students who failed to submit. That’s how the unfortunate students get bullied and ostracized. This leads these students to stop attending school”.
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This “taxation” is just another form of exploitation. Due to the harsh economic burden and the unbearable difficulty of finding these materials, some parents end up complaining to an upper-level organization.

“Parents may directly appeal to an upper-level organization to tell the reality of their plight. Later on the Provisional People’s Committee for North Korea or the Youth League may send personnel for further research. However, they don’t take the issue seriously since high-ranking officials themselves have ordered the ‘taxation’ within the schools” the reporter concluded.

* Editor’s notes on North Korean reporters
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