True to the intention of the Workers’ Party of Korea to make 2024 a year of greater change in developing the country’s education onto the level of an advanced country, significant achievements were made in the educational sector in the efforts to substantially guarantee the development of the country’s education.

Marked change in educational structure

Last year, the work to improve the DPRK’s educational structure for providing more advanced education was promoted in a positive way.

Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology and other major universities strived to introduce the teaching management system based on a full credit system into all faculties from the new school year on the basis of last year’s experience.

Many subdivided subjects were brought out at Pyongyang University of Mechanical Engineering and other universities and faculties introducing the new teaching management system, and new curriculums and teaching programmes drawn up.

Postgraduate education was further intensified with an eye to actively exploring the fields of cross-disciplinary science and cutting-edge science and training highly talented persons.

In the general education sector, more than 70 senior middle schools in provinces, cities and counties turned into technical senior middle schools in areas with distinct economic and geographical characteristics since the new school year began last year.

As a result, hundreds of technical senior middle schools (technical courses) were run, which further consolidated the foundations for giving primary and secondary education in detail to suit the regional features and the aptitudes and personality of students.

New teaching methods created in succession

Many new teaching methods were created and introduced to contribute to improving the quality of education.

The higher education sector actively ran the research task groups for developing teaching methods combining research tasks with selective subject teaching, thus creating dozens of excellent research-oriented teaching and study methods, including the teaching method of improving the students’ research ability and development and creative faculties, and generalized them across the country, thus making great progress in improving the teaching contents.

In particular, it set the creation of teaching methods for ensuring the effectiveness of foreign languages education as an important item for the development of education and pushed ahead with that, thereby creating and generalizing tens of superior new teaching methods. In the course of this, thousands of multilingual students were produced.

Schools in the general education sector also introduced heuristic, search- and debate-type teaching methods and other excellent teaching methods to train students to think and practise by themselves.

Positive efforts were also made to develop and introduce the intelligent teaching control system, an advanced educational management method that comprehensively assesses the abilities of students of junior and senior middle schools and accordingly provides teaching resources to individual students.

Educational conditions and environment improved

Brisk activities were conducted to improve educational conditions and environment in all parts of the country.

With the determination to take full charge of the educational work in their region, officials of Pyongyang Municipality frequented the construction sites of schools, branch schools and kindergartens to help them with their construction projects and thereby gave a facelift to dozens of educational institutions. Especially, Songga Senior Middle School in Kangdong County was built splendidly as a model.

Officials and working people of ministries, national agencies and provinces also provided educational facilities, information equipment and facilities needed for building up the state data communications network for maximizing the effectiveness of teaching with the mind of students’ parents, thus contributing to boosting the informatization and modernization of education a level higher.

Amid the proactive efforts to enhance the material and technical foundations of the education sector onto a world level, more than 340 schools, 780 branch schools and 150 kindergartens were newly built or remodelled at the model level, over 2 000 multifunctional classrooms at above intermediate level were built more than planned and a data communications network was established in 180 branch schools last year alone.

Level of rural schools raised a step higher

The educational level of all rural schools was increased a step higher amid the work to raise the level of education in the countryside to that of urban schools from the beginning of last year.

Central Teaching Training School, which set an example in improving the educational level of rural schools, directed efforts to generalizing the experience of the school and concentrated on enhancing the role of the training schools at all levels.

Under the positive guidance and assistance of the teachers at training schools at all levels, tens of thousands of teachers of rural schools improved their qualifications and abilities last year.

The educational sector conducted brisk activities to disseminate excellent teaching resources of Pyongyang to rural schools. Last year alone, thousands of videos, multimedia presentations for education and various simulation programs were quickly transferred according to school types, years and subjects.

The work for creating practical educational conditions and environment at rural schools was conducted briskly under public concern and assistance.