It has been reported that schools in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea have recently been forcing students to raise rabbits, causing considerable dissatisfaction among parents.
On the 20th, a Daily NK Hamgyongbuk-do source said, “Recently, Chongjin City has been emphasizing raising rabbits from third grade elementary school students to elementary and advanced middle school (middle and high school) students, raising more rabbits and sending them to soldiers and construction workers. “We are urging them to give it to us,” he said. “Originally, rabbits were supposed to be raised in schools, but because they were not managed well, we are asking students to raise them individually and give them to them.”
In North Korea, which is experiencing chronic food shortages, raising rabbits has long been encouraged as a mass movement. Accordingly, schools also built rabbit cages and had each class raise rabbits. At one time, students in each class would take turns cleaning the earthenware cages and offering shamrocks.
However, due to poor management of rabbits, mass deaths occurred frequently, and eventually schools forced students to raise rabbits at home. Then, when the Ministry of Education announced that it would conduct an inspection, they would trick students into bringing rabbits raised at home to school and placing them in rabbit cages as if they were raised at school.
The rabbit raising movement seems to have been greatly encouraged again after a brief pause during COVID-19, and this is said to be a part of supporting rabbit bears for the body of soldiers who will begin synchronous training starting from the 1st of next month.
In fact, it is said that at an elementary middle school in Shinam District, Chongjin, homeroom teachers encourage students to “show our patriotism by supporting the soldiers with rabbits raised by our own hands” and are checking the status of students raising rabbits every day.
In response, parents are said to be raising complaints such as, “Does it make sense to raise and sacrifice animals when people are starving because there is no rice to eat?” and “Do rabbits live only by eating air?” In particular, the source said that the burden on parents is bound to be great because they have to replace it with cash if there is no money in kind.
According to him, a woman in Chongjin City, whose child is a first-year middle school student, said, “At school, patriotism is emphasized and children are asked to raise a rabbit weighing more than 3 kg and offer it to them, but when I ask them to give something to me, I live in tears because I cannot feed my own children. “I’m really frustrated and angry,” he said.
This woman said, “I feel so sorry for my children. When they go to school, they get scolded by the teachers for not being able to complete their assignments, and when they come home, they take out their anger on their parents. How much pain must they live with?” I also sighed.
The source said, “The lives of residents are becoming more and more difficult, and the social tasks required by schools and people’s units continue to increase, so the burden is increasing.” He added, “In particular, parents who are unable to properly ensure that their children do their homework due to difficult living conditions are facing an even greater burden.” “I am suffering,” he said.
Meanwhile, the source said, “Children from financially well-off families are treated as model students because their parents provide good support for all tasks raised at school, but children from economically difficult families have to take it upon themselves to study because their parents cannot support them. He also pointed out, “The reality is that I can’t concentrate.”
Source: www.dailynk.com
