It has been reported that North Korea’s Ministry of Education has notified that it will hold a ‘preliminary test’ for university entrance, similar to our CSAT, 15 days earlier this year.
A source in Pyongyang City told Daily NK on the 25th, “On the morning of the 15th, a notification from the Ministry of Education that the university entrance exam preliminary exam schedule would be advanced by 15 days was delivered to high-end middle schools (high schools) through each province, city, and county education department.” .
Typically, the preliminary exam is held around December, after the end-of-year exams for high school seniors. The preliminary exam is an essential gateway to university admission, and based on test scores in designated subjects, students are eligible to take the ‘university examination’ held around February of the following year.
The purpose of the Ministry of Education’s advance of this year’s preliminary exam date by 15 days is to reduce the burden on test-takers and enable systematic preparation for university entrance exams.
In particular, the Ministry of Education is said to have emphasized that it will focus on nurturing talents with excellent qualifications, strengthening transparency in the college entrance exam process, eradicating cheating and corruption, and ensuring fair competition.
A source said, “Ahead of the annual preliminary exam, the Ministry of Education explicitly pointed out that the confidentiality of test questions is not guaranteed and that cheating and corruption in trading test questions has not been eradicated.” He added, “As a result, education has become a problem this year.” “We have also announced that we will eradicate corruption through an executive project to replace all department executives,” he said.
However, residents with children taking the exam are skeptical, saying, “Every year, some children from powerful and wealthy families know the exam questions before taking the exam. There is no guarantee that problems like this will not occur even if the exam date is brought forward.” It is said that there is a response.
At the same time, the source said, they are pessimistic in their outlook, saying, “This year, children from powerful and wealthy families will take the entrance exams to central universities, major teachers’ colleges, and teachers’ colleges, which are the basis for training executives.”
According to sources, in addition to preparatory exams and university-specific exam scores, political evaluations such as academic background and ideology through general life evaluation are also important criteria for admission to central universities, major teachers’ colleges, and teachers’ colleges.
The source also explained that it is common for students from the 5th division of the Central Party, who are subject to care at the national level, to receive preferential treatment and enter universities even if they do not pass the preliminary exam.
The source added that in major local contract universities, in addition to students who are legitimately selected by passing exams with good scores, there are many cases where people who are subject to the government’s care or children of executives are admitted regardless of exam results.
Source: www.dailynk.com
