North Korean students seeking to learn musical instruments have started boarding with their teachers in a new approach to private lessons.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK recently that an accordion tutor in the Sonbong district of Rason is providing five students with room and board in addition to music lessons.
While tutoring fees vary by teacher, they generally range from 120 to 300 Chinese yuan ($17 to $42) a month per student. In farming areas where cash is less common, tutors accept payments in kind, such as 30 to 40 kilograms of corn.
Because room and board are calculated separately, parents who want to board their children with a tutor face a steeper financial burden. Even so, parents are lining up for spots at these musical boarding houses, the source said.
North Korea bans private education as part of a “capitalistic lifestyle,” but as more parents pursue private education to boost their children’s careers, tutoring options continue to diversify.
Musical skills open doors
Cultural refinement is not the only reason parents are giving their children music lessons. In North Korea, being able to play an instrument is advantageous: it earns credit at socialist organizations and helps secure more comfortable assignments at work and in the military.
“Kids who can play musical instruments aren’t given tough jobs in the military, nor are they assigned to poor workplaces. When somebody with a talent for music arrives at an organization, they can be sure of a warm welcome,” the source said.
Most of the Sonbong district students boarding with their tutor to learn accordion are scheduled to be drafted next year.
Instrument players are treated well because of the high priority placed on propaganda in North Korean society. Music is enthusiastically used to promote the regime and instill ideology. As a result, art groups and mobile propaganda teams are organized at every school and enterprise.
Because instruments like the accordion and guitar are portable, individuals who can play them generally play a key role in propaganda activities.
Accordion and guitar players are essential members of propaganda teams dispatched to major projects with large numbers of workers, including rice transplanting, the fall harvest and construction sites.
Because all organizations need instrumentalists, North Korean parents are willing to spend heavily on music lessons for their children.
North Korea’s music tutoring market continues to expand, helping explain the growing popularity of the boarding approach, which helps students learn instruments relatively quickly.
Given how much money is involved, private tutors also organize monthly “talent shows” so parents can see their children’s developing skills.
“Private tutors have adopted the idea of talent shows, which are typically organized by art schools and provincial art groups. Private education is always evolving,” the source said.
“Tutors who are questioned by police can often get off with a bribe or pull strings with officials whose children they are teaching. These are perfect circumstances for tutoring to thrive.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
