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In Mongolia, children with disabilities were denied, for years, the right to education. However, advocacy efforts of civil society organizations to introduce inclusive education in the country are starting to bear fruit.
The state of education for children with disabilities in Mongolia has seen significant improvement in recent years, owing to a combination of policy changes, increased funding and social awareness.
The Mongolian government has implemented various legal frameworks and policies that focus on the rights and needs of children with disabilities, including the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2016) and the National Program on Inclusive Education (2017-2020).
While the government has made an effort to construct accessible infrastructure in schools and establish specialized institutions, many children with disabilities still face barriers in accessing quality education, especially those in rural areas. Limited teacher training in special needs education, inadequate learning materials and lack of comprehensive support services have hindered the effective implementation of inclusive education policies.
Mongolia has been a GPE partner since 2006 and has since received nearly US$45 million in grants. The current $5 million grant - implemented by Save the Children Australia - supports the project Enabling Equity to Advance Learning which aims to increase all children’s access to primary and secondary education and promotes inclusive education services.
Additionally, Education Out Loud – GPE’s fund for advocacy – has been supporting the All4Education network to build partners’ capacity to ensure the needs of children with disabilities are catered for. These initiatives have focused on improving teacher training in special needs, building accessible infrastructure, distributing learning materials that are disability sensitive and promoting awareness campaigns on the rights of children with disabilities.
Oyunjargal, a 17-year-old student living in the rural village of in Arbulag, who has a hearing impairment, has reaped the benefits of these efforts. She is now attending school, and learning sign language.
Mongolia has made important strides in becoming more inclusive - data from 2021 shows that more than 80 percent of children with disabilities are now in school. Sustained investment in inclusive infrastructure, teacher training and comprehensive support services remain essential if the country is to continue improvements to ensure that all children with disabilities have equal access to quality education.
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Shotlist
00:03 – 00:17 – Aerial view, Oyunjargal’s home in the countryside
00:15 – 01:30 – Oyunjargal’s daily life with her family
01:33 – 01:56 – Aerial view, Murun city
01:56 – 02:15 – Oyunjargal studies at her aunts house in Murun
02:15 – 02:37 – Oyunjargal spends time, communicates with friends
02:37 – 03:10 – Oyunjargal takes part in a gym class, studies at school
03:12 – 04:36 – INTV – Oyunjargal – 17-year-old student
04:39 – 06:05 – INTV - Tungalag Dondogdulam, General Coordinator of All for Education!” National Civil Society Coalition
06:10 - 07:30 – INTV - Enkh-Amgalan – Minister for Education
07:33 - 08:19 – INTV - Gansugh Ulziitogtokh – Oyunjargal’s father
08:19 - 09:28 – INTV - Enkhjargal Baljirkhuu – Teacher
Interview transcriptions
Oyunjargal – 17-year-old student
03:18 – 03:59 We do lots of drawing classes with my art teacher; they are always great. I also enjoy the sign language classes that Ganbaatar teaches and the classes that Enkhjargal assists with. It’s also great because I train for tournaments and my physical education teacher pumps me up beforehand.
03:59 – 04:36 I’m really happy studying at Ireedui 21st school. I came in at the 9th grade and now I’m in the 10th. My classmates are also great!
Tungalag Dondogdulam, General Coordinator of All for Education National Civil Society Coalition
04:39 – 04:55 I have a dream that all children with disabilities can learn equally, in other words, they can study in schools local to their homes.
04:55 – 05:15 To achieve this, Mongolia’s educational system must evolve. The members of the education alliance are working hard to create such a system that provides quality education that fits the needs of each child.
05:15 – 05:38 Therefore, we believe that if children with disabilities can acquire all levels of education without discrimination, then other vulnerable children who were excluded and left out of education can also get quality education by equally participating in the education system.
05:38 – 05:58 The education system will be transformed into a flexible study program
and methodology with a policy program, and even into a culture that respects human rights and children's rights that also meets their dignity and needs.
05:58 – 06:05 We hope that this effort to equally educate children with disabilities can make an impact on this change.
Enkh-Amgalan – Minister for Education
Education itself should be inclusive, should be equitable to all people, because this is a fundamental right, a human right, that means that all kids, all children, regardless of their parents, they must have equal opportunity and access to quality education.
Societal participation and engagement is very important, especially,
we have to improve the public awareness of inclusive education. We have to change our mentality and mindset, our approach.
This area has become a very big challenge because we need strong participation from civil society, of stakeholders, including parents, kids, and non-profit organisations.
Definitely we need to improve this real challenge of public awareness, this is on a societal level.
Gansugh Ulziitogtokh – Oyunjargal’s father
07:33 – 07:55 In my opinion, it must have been hard for her growing up. Even though she is growing up on her own, as a child, without special care from us, she had some obstacles in communicating with people and this was the case.
07:55 – 08:08 As for now, after she started going to school, she has completely changed. She communicates with signs and gestures.
08:08 – 08:19 I want my daughter to become a highly educated and independent person in the future.
Enkhjargal Baljirkhuu – Teacher
08:22 – 08:41 It has been 2 years since Oyunjargal came. In the beginning, she did not socialize much with classmates, she was a little upset because of her hearing impairment, and in terms of her behaviour, we noticed some things that we needed to work on.
23 September 2023
