Education Is the Most Important of All State Affairs

 2021.12.8.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said:

"In this era of science and technology education for talent training is a matter of critical importance decisive of the rise and fall of a country and of the future of a nation."

As an effort aimed at training people to be powerful beings and accelerating social progress, education is a matter of critical importance in deciding the rise and fall of a country and the future of a nation. The reason is that although there are different kinds of criteria, like military strength and science and technology, for judging the strength of a certain nation, their development depends just on man, who gets a scientific idea and knowledge through a certain type of education. In this sense education can be said to be the basic and crucial factor in assessing the national strength.

Education is the most important of all state affairs, which critically influences the destiny of a country or a nation. This thought was suggested long ago by President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il and then translated into reality by them.

Kim Il Sung knew how important it was to train national cadres in establishing a new country, whose masters are the people, soon after the country was liberated from the Japanese imperialists' military occupation. Regarding education as the most important of all state affairs which critically influences the destiny of a country or a nation, he set up, above all, Kim Il Sung University, the parent institution of higher education in our country, when it was in such a difficult and complicated situation. This marked the beginning of a new history of Juche-oriented and popular higher education which was geared to the need to train the sons and daughters of the people into reliable pillars of the new Korea; it also paved a wide avenue for building a rich and independent state of the people by relying on the nation's own cadres.

Carrying forward the idea of the President, Chairman Kim Jong Il put it forward as an important principle of the socialist education to keep the Juche-based stand, promote the Party, working-class and popular spirit in the educational work and combine education and edification with the revolutionary practice. Then he made sure that the principle was implemented in a thorough-going way so that all the working people could develop into fine builders of socialism.

It is not fortuitous that people from around the world called our country "land of education," admiring it for the reality of education developed under the wise guidance of the President and the Chairman.

This is an era of science and technology when the level of sci-tech development is the decisive factor in determining the strength and position of a country as well as its future. If it is developed in science and technology, it will become definitely prestigious and dignified as a powerful nation; otherwise, it will be subordinated to other countries in economic terms and end up in national ruin. In this sense, to prioritize science and technology and develop it rapidly constitutes a radical need to defend the national prestige and sovereignty.

Sci-tech progress, however, is far from something that comes of its own accord. It is generated through education which trains people with relevant abilities. Slighting education and failing to attach importance to talented people will lead to little development of a country and due subordination to other nations, and, finally, national ruin. There has never been such a time as it is now that talent is the immediate factor in deciding the rise and fall of a nation; never has it been so pressing a need as it is now that education is No. 1 priority in socio-economic progress.

Science and technology are, therefore, inseparably related with education. When science and technology is the engine pulling the economic development of a country and an important criterion of the national strength, the mother of science and technology is just education.

The rivalry among nations for greater power at the moment is simply that for sci-tech superiority, or that of education which supports it by training talent. The rivalry reminds us of a silent war. The more developed nations are, the more enthusiastic they are about studying possible social changes in the future and setting the direction of their future education and drawing up their educational strategy and policy for talent training to cope with such changes. And they are working hard to the end.

True to the noble idea of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il about education, General Secretary Kim Jong Un of the Workers' Party of Korea is admirably carrying forward the policy of regarding education as the most important of all state affairs, well aware of the needs of the developing realities.

Proceeding from the importance of education that constitutes the lifeline of the building of a powerful socialist nation, he advanced many years ago the policy of making ours a country of education and a talent power by bringing about a radical improvement in education in the new century. Addressing a number of important conferences including the third plenary meeting of the seventh Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea he reiterated fighting tasks to make a radical change in education and has wisely led the entire Party, the whole country and all the people to turn out in the struggle for their implementation. As part of the effort, our country is channeling a greater state investment into the educational sector while enforcing the universal 12-year compulsory education. Considering the present-day situation where our country is pushing ahead with the building of a powerful socialist nation in defiance of the hostile forces' vicious embargo and sanctions, it is virtually a great thing that the universal 12-year compulsory education is in force at the moment.

Over the years the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un has made painstaking efforts for development of the nation's education and science, putting forth the policy of making all people well versed in science and technology, making sure that the atmosphere of attaching importance to science and talent is overwhelming in the whole country, and erecting apartment buildings for teachers at Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology and providing a lot of dwellings in Ryomyong Street to teachers and so on.

Under his guidance our country is in a heyday of talent training. Competent people who are equipped firmly with the Juche idea and a high level of proficiency are creating whatever the Party wants and the people desire in every sector of the building of a powerful socialist nation. Making whatever is needed from scratch and turning the impossible into the possible, they are distinguishing themselves as workers of miracle and pioneers of the era.

Students from Kim Il Sung University, Kim Chaek University of Technology, University of Sciences and other institutions of higher education have won international programming contests one after another, bringing pleasure to their nation and surprising people around the world. Referring to our country's successful research projects, the scientific world called them "the finest and most advanced findings" and "findings that have a strong impact on future research" while expressing admiration for the level of development of our country's education that produced such excellent people as well as for its sci-tech potentials.

Our defence scientists who have been trained by the Korean-style education as red scientists of the WPK and ardent loyalists to the Party are working miracles in succession by going beyond the cutting edge and exerting inexhaustible creativity in the effort to improve the defence capabilities of the country.

Cherishing the trust the respected General Secretary put in us teachers while praising us as professional revolutionaries, we should make a redoubled effort to implement the WPK's educational policy to the letter and thus fulfil our duty for the earliest possible accomplishment of the cause of building a powerful socialist country.