In the DPRK, nursery is an institution whose mission is to bring up children under the state and public care system until they attend kindergarten. In order to bring up children, the future of the country, in good health and encourage women to take an active part in social activities, the state sets up nurseries in residential quarters and near the workplaces of women.

The state ensures that all children are looked after and educated free of charge at nurseries according to the wishes of their parents, irrespective of their social status, occupation, and quality and quantity of the work they have done.

The size of the nursery varies by region in accordance with the number of working mothers in the relevant region. Large-scale industrial establishments like the Pyongyang Kim Jong Suk Textile Mill have their own nurseries in their compounds.

Nurseries run classes for suckling babies, toddlers and children just below kindergarten age according to the ages of children and appoint each nurse to a certain number of children.

The Kim Jong Suk Nursery, founded on February 15, 1948, is the first nursery in the country.

Situated at the foot of picturesque Moran Hill in the capital city of Pyongyang, the weekly nursery takes care of and educates the children of working women in the city, especially journalists who are often on a business trip, as well as artistes, teachers and doctors. Parents leave their children on Monday and bring them back on Saturday.

It accepts children aged between 2 and 4 in the main.

It organizes the children’s life, nutrition, exercise and play, air bath and basking in sunshine on a regular basis to suit their ages and characteristics.

It has children’s rooms from the first floor to the fifth. Each room with sections for sleeping and play and a bathroom can accommodate about 20 children.

The nursery has a general indoor playground with a wading pool and various outdoor amusements including swings and slides.

It rears all children as required by the Law of the DPRK on the Nursing and Upbringing of Children. It intensifies the intellectual and cultural education among children and hygienic management of them. It also takes motherly care of them and rationalizes the nutrition supply for them according to the nutrition norms for children set by the state.

The country has set up not only a nationwide system for the management and operation of nurseries but also a well-regulated materials supply system running from the capital down to regional cities and counties.

The state and social cooperative organizations take full responsibility for providing everything needed for the nursing and upbringing of nursery children according to the principle “All the best things for children!”

Kim Hyok Chol