Efforts are being intensified to provide guidance and assistance to rural schools.

The Academy of Pedagogical Science conducted the work to raise the level of education at several rural schools in Phanmun District and Jangphung County of Kaesong City from late February to late March.

Researchers from the academy got the teachers of the rural schools to select a subject in which they excel and work out a teaching plan by specifying the objective of teaching and designing the course of teaching. Then they analysed each plan to help teachers revise their plans in a way they can make students become active learners and searchers. They channelled efforts into perfecting the teachers’ abilities to write on the blackboard in chalk, teaching posture, narration skills and ability to deal with situations, thus bringing home to the teachers once again that teaching is an art.

They also gave the teachers meticulous assistance so that they could put all the teaching courses on a scientific basis, including guidance over overall class, preparations for next lessons and discussion by students and explanation by teachers.

While making the daily work of the schools part of the process of implementing the educational programme in keeping with the specific conditions of the educational units, the researchers applied pedagogical principles to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and improve the environment of schools as well.

Extracurricular education proved very effective here.

The researchers included the dance lesson in the extracurricular activity to enliven the schools. While making after-school lessons the ones that students like and always wait for, they included in the lessons the course of telling schoolchildren a story for some minutes prior to the lessons, thus arousing their curiosity and interest.

As a result, a different form of teaching structure was designed and teachers’ teaching and students’ learning became more efficient.

Other areas of the country are also putting big efforts into guidance and assistance of rural schools.

North Phyongan Province made sure that a short course arranged during vacation became an important occasion in improving the qualifications of teachers of those schools.

Instructors of city and country teachers in-service training schools were dispatched to remote rural schools with materials and multimedia prepared to contribute to improving the qualifications of teachers of the rural schools, in order to generalize the excellent teaching methods and model lessons.

In North Hwanghae Province, excellent teachers of urban schools were dispatched to rural schools to give intensive guidance over and assistance in teaching as a social environment of helping the education sector heated up. Most recently alone, education support exhibitions were arranged in the provincial capital, cities and counties and a large number of educational facilities and school fixtures were prepared and sent to rural schools.

In Ryanggang Province, officials of teachers in-service training schools frequent rural schools to take timely measures to solve problems arising there and actively disseminate such educational assets as multimedia, common knowledge of education and excellent teaching methods through the network dedicated to the education sector.