Policies and Measures of the WPK and the State for the Nursing, Upbringing and Schooling of Orphans

Today the orphans in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are enjoying a happy life to their hearts' content under the special care provided by the Workers' Party of Korea and the state, receiving as good upbringing and education as any of the children who have their own parents. This is thanks to the wise leadership and close concern of President Kim Il Sung, Chairman Kim Jong Il and General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers' Party of Korea. The DPRK is the only country in the world where the state assumes the responsibility for the orphans and looks after them, while regarding the children as kings and queens of the country.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un is providing whatever care he can to the orphans, cherishing the belief that they surely belong to the younger generation of his nation and country and stressing that the WPK is firmly determined to have the state train them as pillars of the country at its expense.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said:

"Ours is the only country where the Party and the state bring the orphans up at their own responsibility."

The upbringing and education of the rising generation is a matter of crucial importance in determining the destiny of a nation or country, and the future of the country depends on how the younger generation, future masters of the country, are trained.

The policy of the state bearing full responsibility for the orphans and taking good care of them for their nursing, upbringing and education is a consistent policy the WPK has followed since the years of the building of a new country after national liberation.

When the country was liberated from the Japanese imperialist military rule, there were a huge number of orphans in town and the countryside, whose parents had died under the Japanese despotism. To settle the orphaned vagrants securely and provide them with opportunities to learn and enjoy themselves to their heart's content was one of the urgent social problems.

In order to secure a happy home for their nursing and upbringing in the years when the country was in a difficult economic situation with everything in short supply, President Kim Il Sung made sure that the state bore the whole burden of their nursing and upbringing. He saw to it that each province including the Pyongyang city established an orphanage which admitted all orphans aged between 3 and 6 as well as those in their school age.

Thanks to his close care and wise guidance after national liberation, an orphanage system was set up for the first time in the country which served as a pre-school educational institution that admitted those orphans who had no patrons and were aged from three up to the school age.

A well-regulated system of nursing and bringing up parentless children was instituted in the country during the years of the fierce Fatherland Liberation War.

Even when the country was in a critical situation of the war President Kim Il Sung shaped a policy whereby the state took charge of the war orphans and brought them up at its own expense, and made sure that various state measures were taken to fulfill it.

He called a political committee of the Workers' Party of Korea in late December Juche 39(1950) to deal with the matter of the state taking on the responsibility of looking after the children who lost their parents in the war. And on January 13, Juche 40(1951) the Cabinet adopted Decision No. 192 at the proposal of the President, which was to establish schools for bereaved children of Korean People's Army officers, guerrilla fighters and patriotic martyrs who had died in the Fatherland Liberation War. Thanks to his warm care and great concern for the rising generations, different provinces including Pyongyang city set up exclusive nursery schools, primary schools, military schools, women's technical schools and institutions to admit bereaved children of KPA personnel, fighters of people's guerrilla armies and other patriotic martyrs who had died heroic deaths in the grave war. Those schools opened on April 1, Juche 40(1951). On May 29, Juche 41(1952) primary schools were established in different provinces to bring up and educate orphans who had lost their parents in the war. On October 9 that year measures were taken to integrate those institutions into primary schools with five to eight years of courses and move them to safe regions for resumption of their schooling.

Thanks to the energetic guidance of the President, a total of 53 primary schools came into existence throughout the country as of September 1959, which admitted tens of thousands of orphans in all. Later these schools in different provinces were amalgamated and reorganized into the ones with four-year course as the war damage was gradually removed and the number of eligible children decreased.

Middle schools for orphans were first established during the fierce Fatherland Liberation War thanks to the great care and concern of President Kim Il Sung. He put forth the policy of the state assuming the responsibility of taking care of the children who lost their parents to the US imperialist aggressors in the war, and made sure that a state measure was taken to open exclusive schools for them. Thus different levels of schools including primary schools with a five-year course came into existence for orphans in Pyongyang and different provinces, plus newly liberated regions. The educational system of primary schools for orphans underwent some change to have a course of five to eight years. The eight-year course of primary school provided the children with education of junior middle school course after the primary school course. Later two-year long technical schools were set up in Pyongyang, Chongjin, Sinuiju, Kanggye, Nampho, Hamhung and other places and opened on April 1 the next year to teach the orphans of under 17 who finished the primary school course. In keeping with the introduction of the universal 9-year compulsory technical education in the country in April Juche 56(1967), the middle school course of the primary school for orphans and the technical schools for them were amalgamated to form five-year course middle schools in August that year. Later when the universal 11-year compulsory education was established, the middle schools for orphans were reorganized to give a six-year course to children after the primary school course.

In this way a well-regulated system was set up under the tender care of President Kim Il Sung to provide nursing, upbringing and education to the orphans. Thus a good condition was arranged to help all children in the country to learn to their heart's content and grow up happily to be pillars of the country.

The policy of nursing and upbringing orphans which began thanks to the energetic guidance of President Kim Il Sung and his people-oriented proposals, was carried out uninterruptedly under the parental care of Chairman Kim Jong Il.

He made sure that the Party and the state consistently followed the policy of taking full responsibility of the orphans for both their schooling and living. Learning that orphanages and primary schools for orphans were having a hard time since some provincial authorities failed to pay due attention to them as the country was in difficult economic situation due to the enemy's sanctions, the Chairman gave an instruction to relevant authorities on September 12, Juche 96(2007) to understand the overall situation of orphanages and straighten it out while taking a thoroughgoing measure to prevent slipshod care of orphans. On November 28 that year he took a strong measure for the Cabinet and provincial people's committees and other relevant authorities to understand the capacities of orphanages and primary schools for orphans and provide state-sponsored care to the children without any patrons.

Later on May 12, Juche 98(2009) he made sure that the then Ministry of Education understood and straightened out the situation of orphanages and primary schools for orphans in North and South Hwanghae provinces, especially their nursing and education. On September 7 that year he acquainted himself with the actual condition of orphanages and primary schools for orphans again, and told relevant officials to take immediate measures, urging them to pay due attention to the children at orphanages and primary schools for orphans. Still worried, he asked again on October 7 about how the effort was going to support baby homes, orphanages, primary schools and middle schools for orphans; he gave instructions to relevant officials on avoiding the ill practices of confining the support for the orphans to supplying some materials on major holidays, on face-lifting orphanages and schools for orphans well enough to meet the modern aesthetic needs, and on understanding the educational conditions of the schools and the living condition of the orphans on a regular basis and offering substantial assistance.

Notably, he sponsored a measure to tighten legal control to get rid of such irresponsible practices as some relevant authorities failing to build orphanages and schools for orphans in good condition and supply teaching facilities and daily necessities; he also initiated a measure for baby homes, orphanages, primary and middle schools for orphans preferentially to get necessary educational equipment, medical supplies from the government and to use aid materials from the UNICEF and foreign non-governmental organizations.

Thanks to the Chairman's meticulous care for orphans, the orphanages in Pyongyang, South Phyongan Province and all other parts of the country were fully provided with soya milk and food, and the nursing and educational conditions as well as the living conditions improved considerably at orphanages. Bearing in mind the Chairman's words that he felt hardly happy on the New Year's Eve to think of the orphans, senior officials of local authorities often visited orphanages and primary schools for orphans with a desire to alleviate the anxiety of the Chairman even a little, providing orphans with a lot of daily necessaries and looking into every corner of their life.

Under the Chairman's wise leadership and tender care, all the orphans in the country were put to close care of the Party and the state, learning to their heart's content and fulfilling their hope without any worry while developing themselves into reliable reserve force for the building of a powerful socialist country.

The policy of nursing and upbringing orphans, which made steady progress under the close concern of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il, is now developing to a higher stage thanks to the wise guidance of General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers' Party of Korea and his ennobling care for the rising generations.

On February 3, Juche 103(2014) he visited the Pyongyang Baby Home and the Pyongyang Orphanage and acquainted himself with details of the condition of nursing and upbringing there. He said: We should be the orphans' parents as they long for parental affection, and look after them well so that they can grow up to be cheerful and honest people. We should help them feel no sorrow over their parentlessness but grow healthfully to be fine pillars of the country. Then, he gave important instructions regarding how to improve the operation of baby homes and orphanages. On June 1 that year he visited the Pyongyang Orphanage again to congratulate the children on International Children's Day. He said earnestly: Our country will be in high spirits only when the children enjoy themselves to the full. For the orphans to grow healthfully feeling no sorrow over their parentlessness, the nurses should look after them with a parental heart.

Inspecting the construction sites of the Pyongyang Baby Home and the Pyongyang Orphanage on the beautiful Taedong River on June 24 that year, the General Secretary said that we should make all buildings and facilities into model edifices, another epitome of architecture in the era of the Workers' Party of Korea which thoroughly embodied the WPK's care for the orphans.

Visiting the baby home and orphanage on their completion on October 25, he said earnestly that more important was to care orphans well than to erect fine structures.

Kim Jong Un always pays close attention to provision of nourishment to orphans as their parents would do. He initiated the establishment of a fishery station which would exclusively supply fish to baby homes and orphanages throughout the country on a regular basis even when the country was in a difficult economic situation. He gave energetic guidance to the project later, and when the station went into operation he visited it by sailing across the sea and was quite satisfied that it was now possible to supply fish to children without interruption.

On the New Year's Day in Juche 104(2015) the General Secretary visited the Pyongyang Baby Home and the Pyongyang Orphanage. Seeing the children's New Year performance and congratulating them, he earnestly asked the officials and employees of the baby home and the orphanage to work with a high sense of responsibility and play their role faithfully to help the WPK's care reach the orphans dear and straight.

He made sure that each province built a nice baby home and orphanage modelled on the Pyongyang Baby Home and the Pyongyang Orphanage. Looking round the construction sites of the Wonsan Baby Home and the Wonsan Orphanage on February 10, Juche 104(2015) he gave detailed instructions regarding how to provide orphans with the best possible living condition so that they would not have any inconvenience.

Thanks to the warm care and wise leadership of the General Secretary fine baby homes and orphanages rose up in each provincial capital including Wonsan, Sariwon and Phyongsong.

The great care of the General Secretary who loves the rising generations so dearly and nurtures the future of the country with so much effort has brought about the construction of excellent homes of orphans, like baby homes, orphanages, primary and middle schools for orphans, all across the country. This presents a true profile of the socialist system of the DPRK which is centered on the masses of the people.

As they are in the bosom of President Kim Il Sung, Chairman Kim Jong Il and General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the WPK, who love children more than any other, orphans are also treated as kings in the socialist Korea, enjoying as happy life as any of the children who have their own parents. This provides a view of the garden of tender care for the people, a great garden flourishing in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.