Education

Hi all

Almost 2 weeks since the last message, but still no Government in Mongolia. This is particularly due to the trial of the ex-president Ekhbayar, who could have been vice-prime minister, and has been sentenced to 4 years in jail. But his party is necessary to the coalition, and there will be an appeal. So we will see what will happen to the godfather of corruption in Mongolia.

Today, let’s speak a little bit about the education system here.

So first you can realize that the situation is a little bit complicated for children of nomadic herders who can leave 1000 km away from the nearest city. But the system is relatively well organized. The country value education a lot, and there are boarding schools almost everywhere, which are free for herders. The attendance rate of non-compulsory kindergarten is around 75% (less in the countryside).

The literacy rate is impressive, as a result of the ex-soviet system, around 97%, and around a third of the last generation attended tertiary education.

But that is where statistics are a little bit misleading. Actually the school level is really bad, particularly because teachers and university professors are paid around 300$/month (like doctors), what is not enough to have an apartment in UlaanBaatar.

So are developing everywhere private shools (International school, American School, British school…) to target the expats, the rich, and even the upper middleclass which can make sacrifices to have their children educated with European or American standards. The best of the best is even to send your child in an high school in the US.

Similarly, a third of the students who go to university go abroad. South Korea, China, Russia, Germany and of course the US are the targeted countries. This gives the insurance to get a job when you come back (and most of them do) since the local universities cannot really compete.

64% of a generation of graduates stays unemployed. And that is because 90% of the students attending university graduate in humanities while the country needs mostly engineers to sustain its mining system. The rate of unemployment is around the rate of open jobs, what point out the un-match between supply and demand.

So there is a growing effort to push students towards scientific studies, and to open vocational training. The big foreign companies which are exploiting the mines are playing a role, by opening such vocational schools, to match their objective of having 95% Mongolian staff.

Today’s challenge seems to be possible to resolve, but tomorrow’s is the growing complexity of the ger-district situation. That is where the number of student/teacher is the biggest and where you see more and more young giving up. It is interesting to note that in India or Cambodia you see many international volunteers coming to help in education, what is not possible here because of the language barrier. There are very few NGO’s projects in this sense in the ger discrict except the Zorig foundation, leaded by the Stanford graduate Badruun, which is doing a wonderful job.