Before the country’s liberation, there was not a single university in the northern part of Korea.
On October 1, Juche 35 (1946), the first year after liberation, Kim Il Sung University, the first people’s university of its kind in Korea’s history, was founded.
In December Juche 35 (1946), a democratic educational system was established according to a decision of the Provisional People’s Committee of North Korea, titled Measures on School Educational System in North Korea.
The educational system consists of pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education.
The DPRK introduced universal compulsory primary education and the universal compulsory secondary education in Juche 45 (1956) and Juche 47 ( 1958), respectively.
In Juche 61 (1972), universal 11-year compulsory education was introduced.
In September Juche 101 (2012), the Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK promulgated a law on the enforcement of universal 12-year compulsory education.
Education at all levels is free. Regarding the children as kings of the country, the country brings them up to be talented personnel possessed of versatile knowledge and rich cultural attainments both through school education and at comprehensive extracurricular educational bases like schoolchildren’s palaces and children’s camps built in various parts of the country.
University students get scholarships paid by the State.
A well-regulated study-while-you-work system and online education system, involving factory, farm and fishermen’s colleges, are built across the country.
Bases for all-people education, including the Sci-Tech Complex and the Grand People’s Study House, multi-functional sci-tech diffusion bases, are found in many parts of the country.
Recently, the country pays particular attention to the development of education, increasing investment in this sector, strives to perfect the educational system on a higher level, and encourages the whole society to help the education work to make all the people well versed in science and technology and develop itself into a talented nation.
Universal 12-Year Compulsory Education
The universal 12-year compulsory education is offered free in all parts of the country, and covers all children and the youth at the age from 5 to 17.
It consists of one-year pre-school course, five-year primary schooling, threeyear junior middle schooling and three-year senior middle schooling.