While the North Korean women’s soccer team has become a hot topic by winning consecutive World Cups for each age group, it has been reported that after-school soccer teams are being actively operated in elementary schools in North Korea, reflecting the enthusiasm. However, students from economically disadvantaged families are feeling frustrated because they cannot even dream of joining a small group.
A Daily NK Hamgyongnam-do source said on the 25th, “Currently, soccer teams are being actively operated in elementary schools in Hamheung City.” He added, “Soccer teams can be joined from the third grade of elementary school, and usually 2 to 4 people from each class join, and most of them are economically wealthy. “Students at home.”
The source explained that in order to join a soccer group, students have to pay for their own soccer balls and provide financial support to the teacher in charge of the group, so students from economically disadvantaged families who want to join a soccer group give up because they cannot afford it.
North Korea promotes its socialist free education system, but in reality, from the moment students and parents enter school, they suffer from various economic burdens, including social tasks assigned by the school.
Moreover, in North Korea, it is taken for granted that parents provide some financial help to teachers who come to school and teach students without receiving proper rations or salaries.
The source said, “It is difficult for families experiencing financial difficulties to send their children to school. In such a situation, can they even dream of joining a soccer team?” He added, “Children from families having difficulty making ends meet naturally have to give up even if they want to join a soccer team. “We are facing reality,” he said.
Students who join a group finish their classes in the morning and enjoy activities in their own group after school, but students who do not join a group are said to be mobilized for various social tasks such as pulling grass, cleaning toilets, and organizing the surrounding area.
It is pointed out that this situation, in which a family’s economic power is revealed depending on whether or not it has joined a Sojo, is causing great harm to young students. This is because the gap between rich and poor can be clearly felt.
According to sources, 11 out of 25 students in a third-grade class at an elementary school in Hamheung are participating in after-school activities such as soccer and computers, while the remaining 14 students are mobilized for social work proposed by the school.
Meanwhile, on the 10th, one of these students said, “I want to go to Sojo and kick a ball, but I don’t want to work. The student cried and complained to his parents, saying, “Please make a lot of money quickly and put it into Sojo,” and it is known that the parents of the student in question stayed up all night feeling sorry, sad, and frustrated.
The source said, “In the past, there would have been a dozen cases of parents going to their homeroom teacher and complaining, ‘Why are you making only my children work?’ But now, parents see it as their own fault for not being able to support their children, so things like that don’t happen anymore.” “He said.
He added, “Until a few years ago, if parents worked hard, they could somehow put their children on the same level as others, but now it is difficult to make a living with the income from the market, so it is difficult to support their children.”
Source: www.dailynk.com
