1.
Mongolian education system
Mongolian – U.S equivalent
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A = A
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B = B
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F = D
Mongolian education system has
undergone major changes in the past century. The educational reforms during
communist times were a start break with traditional education that was often
religious and esoteric. These reforms were modeled on Soviet education systems
and greatly expanded access to education for Mongolian citizens, among the
changes was a transition from the traditional Mongolian script, from 1941 to
1946, to the Cyrillic alphabet. Literacy was also greatly expanded as most of
the population enjoyed free primary school. However, the move to democracy and
free markets in the 1990s has had some negative impacts on education in
Mongolia, though these setbacks have been ameliorated some by an improving
economy and policy reforms. Many adults also benefit from the non-formal
distance education programs sponsored by the government in conjunction with
foreign NGOs in Mongolia. Today education in Mongolia is overseen by the
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Education today
In June 2011, VSO Mongolia published a
report on the Mongolian Education sector which looked at progress challenges
and future priorities given the current socio-economic changes in Mongolia. The
report, which was launched to commemorate IYV+10 (10th anniversary
of the International Year of Volunteers), showed that there were numerous
opportunities presented by the high level of economic growth, which has brought
more resources into the sector. However, it showed that as Mongolia emerges
onto the world stage, the disparity between rich and poor could leave many
marginalized when it comes to benefitting from education. The report argued
that the Mongolian Government has made an immense effort to develop the
education sector at all levels since its transition to democracy with an
admirable openness and willingness to progress towards its further development.
This was particularly noted in accommodating for Mongolia’s unique country
characteristics such as the nomadic lifestyle, low population density in remote
areas, and striving towards meeting international standards.
The report also showed that Mongolian
people have always valued education over other attributes and have habitually
made it their priority to educate their children. Due to these efforts, the
findings showed that overall the parents were satisfied with their children’s
progress at school. However, there were still many challenges that remain to be
tackled. The findings also showed that amongst all stakeholders, there was an
overwhelming majority who gave a negative response when asked about the
performance of the sector at present; this was in terms of the quality of
education (68%), Access to education (83%), and the inclusiveness of the system
for disadvantaged groups (76%).
In concluding what VSO Mongolia achieved
in its education program over the last 20 years, the report showed that
international volunteers have and continue to make a significant impact in the
development of the education sector. Stakeholders who took part in this
research generally held positive view of the role and influence of the
international volunteers with 67% of respondents regarding them as having
played a crucial role in education. While just over half of respondents had
experience of working with international volunteers. 94% of all respondents
were willing to work with them in the future. At this stage in Mongolia’s
development, the relevance and impact of international volunteering was
highlighted when addressing these challenges and future priorities in taking
the education sector forward to achieve its ultimate goal of Education for all.
Pre-school education
Mongolia has an extensive,
state-financed pre-school system. Currently there are over 700 state and
private kindergartens (name for a day care). While during socialist times,
every sum used to have at least one nursery school and kindergarten. Currently
there only exist kindergartens that enroll children over the age of 3. In
Ulaanbaatar, there are also some privately run nursery schools and
kindergartens, many offer language training, for example, Russian.
Primary and secondary education
The system in place for lower-level
education in Mongolia has been similar to the one used during communist times,
though the government has begun reforms to expand it. The original system
included four years of compulsory schooling followed by a further four years of
compulsory lower-secondary education. There were then two years of
upper-secondary non-compulsory education that either have a vocational, technical,
of general education focus. The expansion began in 2004 with the official
school entry age dropping from age 8 to 7. A further expansion is set to take
place in 2008 with the entry grade-level dropping one more year to age 6. The
goal is to have a 12 year, 6-4-2, system for primary and secondary education.
As of 2003 there were 688 primary and
secondary school with about 528000 students and 20725 teachers. There were 32
vocational and technical training centers with 20000 students and over 800
teachers.
The earliest example of public
education in Mongolia is a secular school set up by the Buddhist monk and poet
Danzan Ravjaa at the Khamar Monastery in the 1820s.
School
School children in Ulaanbaatar
As in many post-socialist countries,
Mongolia’s school system, previously based on the ten-year school, has been
shifting towards eleven years of education. The official school entrance age
has been lowered to six starting 2008. Compulsory education is tight years.
Each school year begins on September 1st.
Higher education
Higher education in Mongolia came with
the communist revolution in the early 20th century and was based on
a Soviet model. Since its inception the higher education system has seen
significant growth to this day. As of 2003 there were 178 colleges and
universities, though only 48 of those were public. However, there were 98031
students at the public universities compared to 31197 private students,
indicating the continued importance of publicly funded higher education in
Mongolia. Under communist rule all higher education was provided free of
charge. Since the early 90s, however, fees have been introduced, though the
government still offers grants and scholarships. The quality of education in
the privately owned institutions is usually perceived as inferior.
There are many universities in
Mongolia. The most prominent one is the National University of Mongolia in
Ulaanbaatar, which was founded in 1942 (as Choybalsan University) with three
departments: education, medicine, and veterinary medicine. The faculty was Russian
\m as was the language of instruction. In 1983 the university’s engineering
institute and Russian–Language teacher training institute became separate
establishments, called the Polytechnic Institute and the Institute of Russian
Language, respectively. The polytechnic institute, with 5000 students,
concentrated on engineering and mining. Mongolian state university, with about
4000 students, taught pure science and mathematics, social science, economics,
and philology. More than 90 percent of the faculty were Mongolian teachers also
came from the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, France, and Britain. Much
instruction was in Russian, reflecting the lack of Mongol-language texts in advanced
and specialized fields.
Besides Mongolian State University
there were 7 other institutions of higher learning: the institute of medicine,
the institute of the agriculture, the institute of the economics, the state
Pedological institute, the Polytechnic institute, the institute of the Russian
language, and the institute of physical culture. In the summer, all students
had a work semester, in which they helped with the harvest, formed “ shock
work” teams for construction projects , or went to work in the Soviet Union or
another Comecon country. In early 1989, the educational authorities announced
that third year and fourth year engineering students would be told which
enterprise they would be assigned to after graduation , so that their training
could be focused with practical ends in mind.
Each of Mongolia’s 21 aimags has its
own Education and Culture Department which administers both formal and non –
formal education programs within its borders. Each aimags is responsible for
developing the content of their programs and implementing them. For non- formal
distance education, however , there are also two country – wide programs : “The
National Education”.
Pedagogical training for the
instructors is taken care of by the Center for Non – formal Education, which is
part of Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science/Mongolia/. There is also a
National education inspection service that monitors the programs, so it not
clear how much control the national – level of the Ministry of education
compared the aimag level.
The non – formal distance education
program also makes use of “ enlightenment centers,” often located in schools or government offices, to
distribute educational materials.
1. When did the educational sector change in the first time?
2.
When was educational system found in
the first of Mongolia?
3.
How many levels consist of educational
sector?
4. What do you think about the Mongolian Educational system?
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