Primary Attention to Education

Primary Attention to Education Building of State Organ changes into School Building On April 1, 1954, eight month after the ceasefire, Kim Il Sung made the rounds of schools in Pyongyang on the occasion of the beginning of the new school year. When he saw the war-ravaged schools and the children studying there, his heart hurt. Time passed, and officials told him that it was past lunch time. Then Kim Il Sung said that as it was a significant day that school started for children, he would look around one more school even if he skipped his lunch, and went to the then Pyongyang Primary School No. 19. Stepping into a classroom of the school he carefully looked at the furnishings of the classroom, including glossily-cleaned desks different in shape and size and the blackboard. Now he turned his eyes to a noticeboard (it was made by the pupils) hanging on the back wall of the room. Pasted on the board was an emulation graph showing how many bricks each pupil collected. After seeing what were drawn and written on the noticeboard Kim Il Sung told  accompanying officials that the children were admirable, and earnestly said that they should build schools for children as early as possible. The officials had thought that it was unavoidable that they could not pay attention to the construction of schools as everything was in short supply in the country at that time. While correcting their wrong thinking Kim Il Sung looked round the interior and exterior of the school before coming out of it. Suddenly, he pointed at a building opposite the school and asked the officials what the building was. One of them replied that it was a new office building of the Ministry of Commerce. Then he asked them if it could be used as the building of the school. They did not give a ready answer for they knew that there was no other building at that time. Mentioning that the ministry could construct another building by itself and that the officials of the ministry could do their work in a small house for the time being, he determinedly said that the building should be vacated for the pupils. So the office building, to which they were busy moving, changed into the school. Later, he had the construction of schools included in a major construction plan, and took revolutionary measures for ministries, central organs, agencies and enterprises to turn out for the construction of schools in a short span of time. First E-library in Korea On September 19, 2001, Chairman Kim Jong Il inspected Kim Chaek University of Technology. Looking around the education and science exhibition hall and the sci-tech information reading room of the university the Chairman praised the teachers and researchers for their successes, and corrected the shortcomings of their educational and scientific work. Then he sat knee-to-knee with professors and doctors of the university to concretely teach them how to improve the qualification of teachers remarkably. That day he saw a relief map of the panorama of the university and learned in detail about the state of construction of its library. At that time, the frame of the library had been finished. Advising that the library should be built into an e-library he said that the design was not good as the architectural model of the library showed, and that the building should be large if it was to contain all necessary books. But if it was rearranged into an e-library, it did not need to be so large, he added and went on to say that it should be redesigned and built nicely by referring to e-libraries of other countries so that it could become the best e-library in Asia. It was a global trend at that time to build an e-library to store and use information in keeping with the rapid development of science and technology and the explosive increase of the sci-tech information as good as “information flood” and “information crisis.” However, the construction of an e-library needs a huge sum of money, for it requires the establishment of information communication network and information service system. So, even developed countries arranged e-libraries by equipping the existing libraries with some information equipment. At the time every penny counted in Korea, and officials could not think of constructing an advanced e-library.  On January 4, 2006, he revisited the university and looked round the completed e-library. Soon afterwards he took measures to renovate the e-library in terms of technical equipment and operation, saying that however difficult the country’s situation was, it should be arranged well enough to have nothing wanted in the future. The four-story e-library has a total floor space of 16 535 square meter. Consisting of 15 e-reading rooms and 11 reading rooms it can share information with other institutions, including Kim Il Sung University the Grand People’s Study House and the state academy of Sciences, via the state network. And it makes it possible to have access to the global trend in sci-tech development and necessary data and knowledge through the Internet. Best Apartment Houses for Teachers On September 28, 2013, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un visited again the construction site of the apartment houses for teachers of Kim Il Sung University, which were near to completion.  Early in January of the year the Supreme Leader proposed to build the best apartment houses for teachers of the university. After the project started, he came to the site to learn about its progress and took necessary measures. That day he looked into Flat No. 301 of Block No. 2. He said that an oval mirror should be hung on the wall near the door so that they might comb their hair or primp themselves before it before going out, and that a bookshelf should be fixed on the wall above the desk in the study so that they might keep on it the books they usually read. In this way he taught in detail what the officials and builders had not thought of before. Back out of the flat he asked if the lift was in operation. One official answered that it was in control test after its installation. Then he asked where the indoor recreation hall was. Told that it was on the 17th floor he said he would go up there, heading for the stairs. The officials repeatedly entreated him to go up later by the lift when it was in normal operation. But he said that he should walk up for exercise and began to go up the stairs. Elderly officials followed him, then he told them to remain on the spot as it would be hard for them to climb the stairs. It was still hot, and the inside of the building was humid, so sweet would roll down the back when climbing one or two stories. Dripping with perspiration he reached the hall. Saying with satisfaction it was well arranged in a unique way, he acquainted himself in detail with the plan of finishing its floor, and instructed that artificial grass should be laid beneath the windows. Coming out of the building the Supreme Leader said in delight that the apartment houses for teachers of Kim Il Sung University were really wonderful and that he felt satisfaction. That day he climbed 272 steps.