The Upper Class kids can be opted out of farm mobilization
While North Korea continues to mobilize residents as young as middle and high school students for nationwide farm work, as announced on the 20th, fines paid by students to waive their duties are being used for school expansion and repair projects.
"In May and June, whether you like it or not, you have to go out to help farming. It doesn't matter if you're a factory worker, state company worker, middle or high school student," the source in South Pyongan Province said. She added, "Just until last year, farm mobilization was considered a test for student loyalty to the Party, so it was mandatory--no exceptions. But this year, they're more permissive about students not attending; schools have ordered teachers to waive the work for students who can pay the fees.”
The cost for exemption is one ton of cement, which is promptly turned over the school. This translates to roughly 60 USD in the markets, or the equivalent of 100 kilograms of rice-- a sum only the donju [new affluent middle class] would be able to afford, according to the source.
She elaborated that school modernization projects have been underway after the North extended its mandatory education to 12 years in 2013. With this change, Kim Jong Un has ordered all schools to fund their own expansion and facility updates without help from the central government. Faced with this uphill battle, many schools are using farm mobilization opt-out payments as a new source of funding.
Predictably, students paying the 60 USD to sidestep farm mobilization invariably comes from donju or Party cadre households, further agitating ordinary residents, who struggle to get by on a daily basis. “Some rhetorically question if 12-year mandatory education is really nothing more than a route for rich kids to avoid manual labor and get a leg up on their studies, leaving poor kids to languish on farms.”
[Source: DailyNK]
