The North Korean Ministry of General Education is implementing a September 2013 decree to centralize the country’s ailing universal education system and extend the length of mandatory study by two years, a report released on Monday said.

The efforts, detailed in an article published by state news agency the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA), say that rules introducing universal 12-year compulsory education will come into force on April 1, with the transition to a new centralized system taking place over the following three years.

Citing Kim Song Il, a department director of the Ministry of General Education, KCNA reported that “preparations