'Send kids to school or... ': North Korea threatens poor parents

Pyongyang: North Korea may be a dictatorship, yet it places a premium on education. Parents, who employ their children on farmlands, have received warnings from authorities, demanding them to send their kids to school lest they shall face, at least, public humiliation. In North Korea, most classrooms are empty even 10 days after the new academic year began. A large number of children belonging to the poor section of society are yet to show up for classes as their services are required in farms during the ongoing planting season. Sources told Radio Free Asia that authorities have sent notices to parents, threatening them with interrogation or public humiliation if they do not send their children to schools. “Today, the county’s education department sent a notice to parents who have not sent their children to school … warning that they will notify the party committees and their parents’ workplaces if they don’t attend,” the source said. He added, “When the class attendance rates are down, the homeroom teacher will be interrogated.” It has been noted that children who fail to show up for classes usually hail from families facing economic hardships. “The reason why children do not come to school is that they have to help their parents, who are busy preparing their small plots of land for farming in the mountains as the planting season begins,” the source explained. Farming forced on poor kids Calling them “volunteers”, young people and children are more often than not forced to do menial jobs in private plots to help shore up North Korea’s economy. Authorities, however, claim that these children voluntarily involve themselves in farming or mining activities. A resident of Hoeryong in the northeastern province of North Hamgyong who spoke in the condition of anonymity, said, “The truth is that the authorities are forcing them.” “There is no young person who would willingly volunteer to go to such a place,” the source added. According to BBC, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), says that “hundreds of children with wisdom and courage in the prime of their youth have chosen to perform manual labour for the state.” Human rights groups have always accused North Korea of using forced child labour. A matter of survival Owing to its battered economy, many starving parents in North Korea drop their children at orphanages in the hope that at least their kids are able to eat. According to Radio Free Asia, women leave their kids at orphanages in the middle of the night or early in the morning before they disappear without leaving any trace. The economic situation in North Korea has gone worse due to the COVID pandemic, leading to acute food shortages across the country. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.