Education in Mongolia
Education is important to the Mongols. They want their children to learn something, regardless of whether they live in the country or in the city. Therefore, in a country where many people still move from place to place, most can read and write. 98 out of 100 Mongolians can do this.
The schoolsystem
There is a long tradition of education in Mongolia and now school is compulsory. From the age of seven, all children must go to school. But which school they attend in Mongolia depends to a large extent on the place where they live. This is how schools differ. School time is eleven years, provided that school is not dropped out beforehand. Primary school goes from first to fifth grade. This is followed by middle school, which lasts from sixth to ninth grade. The high school includes the tenth and eleventh grades.
Kindergarten in Mongolia
There are also kindergartens in Mongolia, but almost only in the capital. In the countryside, people do not see why they should send their children to such an institution. For many children it would be good if they could attend a kindergarten or pre-school facility.
School in town
Many nomads move to the city with their children because they want to give them a better education. You don’t have to pay school fees in Mongolia, but the children wear school uniforms that cost money. There are also school books and exercise books that parents also have to pay for. And that’s money that poor people find difficult to find.
Immigration from the countryside also results in overcrowded classes. There is often a lack of classrooms and material for lessons. The material is not free of charge, so that children from poor families cannot afford exercise books, pens or even school meals.
School in the country
There are many small villages and small towns in Mongolia, a country located in Asia according to aceinland. Here too the children go to school. In the last few years money has been put into many schools so that they are not badly equipped. There are also many newly built schools. But often too many children want to attend these schools, which is why the classes are very large. Sometimes classes even have to take place in shifts so that all children can learn something.
Girls catch up!
Boys often drop out of training, mostly because they have to help their parents with work. But more girls are getting their school ready. Much more young women than men study at universities, 70 out of 100 students are women.
And the nomad children?
Nomad children should also receive schooling. But this is not easy because these children move from place to place with their families. Which school should they attend then? The way to the next town or village is often too far.
It can happen that the teachers come to the children and teach them at home in their yurts. They even get homework here. The problem is that the nomads’ children have to help out at a time when they should actually be going to school. Anyone who owns a radio can also learn with the help of the radio station, when school radio programs are broadcast. Only 30 out of 100 nomad children actually start school at the age of seven.
Problems
Work in the gold mines
As in many other countries in the world, there is child labor in Mongolia. They have to work especially in the country’s gold mines. It is estimated that thousands of children work in Mongolia’s gold mines. How many exactly is not known, because these children are often nowhere recorded.
They have to haul water and earth, they have to dig pits and panning for gold. Often poison is used here, which the children inhale. Many children get sick from it. Accidents also happen in the pits because they are not adequately secured.
Children work in agriculture, as domestic servants, as salespeople and beg as street children. There is also prostitution in Mongolia and due to its geographical location the country is also an important transit country for child trafficking.
Many families are very poor, so the children have to help. This is how Mongolian children earn money instead of going to school. Although Mongolia has compulsory schooling, 18 out of 100 children between the ages of five and 14 have to work. 90 out of 100 children work in rural areas, mostly for their families.
Health
About 30 out of 100 people in Mongolia have no access to clean drinking water or toilets. And six out of 100 children are malnourished. Rickets in particular is widespread, a disease that occurs when people receive too little sunshine and therefore cannot produce the important vitamin D.
Street children
While there are more and more rich people in Mongolia, the number of poor children is also increasing. So many children live on the street. They beg or sell chewing gum or cigarettes in belly shops. Some children clean shoes and when there is no other way they collect rubbish.
