Structure and Characteristics of the Educational System: The principles of the North Korean education system are summarized as follows combination of theory and action or education and production, integration of school and social education, consolidation of guidance by the Workers’ Party, conjunction of general and technological education, preferential treatment of children of late revolutionary heroes and students with special merits, etc.

One of the characteristics of the North Korean education system is that it is classified into 'general education', 'adult education' and 'special education.'

North Korea has an eleven-year compulsory education system (kindergarten: 1 year, people’s school: 4 years, senior middle school: 6 years). With an early education system institutionalized, the country is solidifying the function of the Workers’ Party to control education, giving a first priority on higher education and thus increasing the number of specialized senior schools and colleges.

School Education System

The North Korean school education system is largely divided into compulsory and higher education.

Organizations for such compulsory education include day care centers (1 to 3 years of age), kindergartens (4 to 5 years of age), people’s schools and senior middle schools. Around the nation, there are more than 27,000 day care centers which accommodates 1.42 million children. In addition, 805,000 children are being education in 33,000-plus kindergartens.

People’s schools offer a four-year course. There is one people’s school per one or two “dong” (an administrative district) in urban area and per “ri” in rural areas. Around the country, there exist 48,100 schools with 1.65 million students. A senior middle school consisting of four-year middle school and two-year high school education is subject to the same establishment criteria as applied to a people’s school. There are 4,700 senior middle schools with 2.24 million students around the nation.

Higher education is made up of general education (for studying only) and adult education (for working students).

Institutions for general education include universities, colleges, specialized senior schools and special colleges while organizations for adult education (for working students) consist of factory colleges, farm colleges, fishery colleges, evening sessions of ordinary colleges and open universities.

There exist 470-odd specialized senior schools and 280 universities and colleges with a combined number of students put at 310,000.

Special Education

North Korea has schools for children of the power elite and other special schools teaching foreign languages, science, arts and sports.

Schools for children of the power elite include Pyongyang Mankyongdae Revolutionary School, Kang Ban-Seok Revolutionary School and Haeju Revolutionary School. Only children of high-ranking party and administration cadres are admitted to Pyongyang Mankyongdae Revolutionary School, an eleven-year schooling organization with 900 students that trains cadre candidates. Graduates of the school enter Kim Il-Sung University or serve as junior cadres of the party, administration and military.

Kang Ban-Seok Revolutionary School, which was established under the name of Nampo Revolutionary School, adopted its current name in 1972 when it was conferred the title of a Chollima school. It is an eleven-year school with 700-plus students.

Haeju Revolutionary School that has also obtained the title of a Chollima school is also an eleven-year school with approximately 700 students.

One of the best foreign language schools is Pyongyang Foreign Language School that has a six-year curriculum with 1,800-over students. The school has 20 classes including English, Japanese, German, Russian, Chinese, Arab and Spanish classes. Each year, the school selects 300 students out of those who have good social background and an aptitude for languages including cadres’ children.

In addition, there is a foreign language school in each province. Cities where a foreign language school is located include Shineuiju, Hamheung, Wonsan, Chongjin, Kanggye, Pyongsung and Hyesan. Each school has approximately 400 to 500 students.

In accordance with a new government policy to put a focus on nurturing scientists, Pyongyang First Senior Middle School was opened in 1984. Then, 12 first senior middle schools named after the seat of a provincial government were installed. It was followed by establishment of such schools in each city and county in April 1999, which raised the total number of first senior middle schools to 210.

These schools offer special education for gifted students to foster scientists and technological experts. Among them are six-year Pyongsung Science College and Pyongyang First Senior Middle School that has a six-year curriculum and about 2,000 students.

Art and sports schools pick up students based on their background and ideological traits. Sports and crafts schools have a four-year curriculum while music, dance and formative art schools have an 11-year course.

Adult Education

Factory college: This is a five-year course in which workers acquire and improve necessary technology at work. Graduates obtain a diploma equivalent to that of an ordinary college.

Farm college: In the face of an increasing number of senior middle school graduates, the North Korean government set up “farm colleges” for farming technique reeducation for farmers who finished secondary education. The five-year course, mostly run by farming cooperatives, consists of agriculture, stock farming, agricultural mechanics, study of fruit trees and vegetable, etc.

Fishery college: It is located in Nampo, Wonsan, attached to the College of Fisheries in Shinpo, Hamkyongnam-do. These institutes are aimed at infusing government and party cadres with Juche (self-reliance) ideology and enhancing their general knowledge. Among these institutes are the party cadre training center supervised by the Workers’ Party and party cadre education institutes run by the Central Party or local party chapters.

Cadre training institutes of the Central Party: institutes managed by relevant departments of the Workers’ Party Central Committee including Kim Il-Sung Higher Party School, National Economic Institute, College of International Relations, Keum-sung Political College, Kang Ban-Seok Political College for Bereaved Children of Revolutionary Heroes, etc.

In addition, there are such educational institutes as Kimg Jong-Il Political & Military College managed by the South Korean affairs department of the Workers’ Party Central Committee and Civil Defense College controlled by the civil defense department.

Cadre training institutes of local party chapters: provincial communist college supervised by each provincial party committee and railroad communist college controlled by the politburo of the Ministry of Railways

Others: city, county and district party schools under the command of a city, county and district party committee

Contents & Features in Education

School curricula in DPR Korea place priority on nurturing the students to become faithful communist revolutionaries who are loyal to the Party and the "Great Leader." The North Korean constitution, in Article 43, stipulates: "The state implements the principles of socialist pedagogy and brings up the rising generation to be steadfast revolutionaries who fight for the society and the people, and to be new communist men who are knowledgeable, virtuous and healthy."