Literacy Classes in Mongolia

On September 1st Mongolia’s pavements were suddenly full of bustling school children heading to their first day of school for the new academic year. Among them were 275 students in Arkhangai, Bulgan, Bayankhongor provinces and Ulaanbaatar city hastening to attend our Literacy Project classes. These classes cater to pupils aged from 9 to 18 years who have dropped out of school due to poverty. They are taught reading, writing, mathematics, Mongolian history, ethics, morals and life skills in our programme, and are included in the normal school programme for art, music, crafts and sports. The project aims to educate these students sufficiently that in two years they are either able to re-enter school at the correct level for their age, or sit their school leaving exams and be able to graduate from high school with a recognisable qualification.

During the 2004–2005 school year, 387 students passed through this programme. Of those students, 136 were able to pass their Grade 8 exams and graduate from the programme, with 61 of these graduates entering vocational college, 14 students were conscripted into the army, five found work, and the rest will remain in the programme for their second year. We are delighted to see such good results and have graduates enjoy opportunities for further education that have been denied them in the past. We are also very excited to see two of our students being able to enter university this year.

Literacy classes were first run by Genesis-AOM in 1998, and have been a hugely successful project. From small beginnings the project has expanded and we now receive frequent requests to commence in new areas of Mongolia. Local governors and school administrators support the project and like the students in their provinces to have a second chance to obtain an education.

“As a result of this project, children who had dropped out of school and who were considered hopeless cases have come into society and gained an education. Previously, our teachers had no idea how to teach students of mixed levels in the same class, but now they have learnt how. The advantage of teaching mixed groups is that they can work with each child individually. Teaching mixed groups is one of the biggest problems for regular schools, but you have solved this problem. All teachers and students at our school, and their parents appreciate this project.” G. Oyuntuya, school director in Ashant, Bulgan

On child who has been helped is Nyambayar. He was born in Tsenkher soum of Arkhangai province, and is now 15 years old. His parents divorced when he was two years old, and his father took him to Tsetserleg and left him with his grandparents. His father was unemployed and ended up in prison. While his father was in prison his grandparents died, and so his mother took him to live with his maternal grandmother. However, this grandmother didn’t want to feed him. He was then moved from family to family, until an aunt let him stay with her. In recent years he has had no contact with his natural parents. In 2004, his aunt found out about our project and enrolled him in one of our classes. He had never been to school previously, so this was his first year. He is very happy and excited in our literacy class, and he loves his teacher. At first he was very shy and wasn’t able to talk to others openly, but now he is more talkative. He has a strong motivation to study. When he first joined the class he was completely illiterate, but he is now able to read, write and count. He is the top runner and singer in the class. He says, “I like to study and school is very nice. I don’t have any parents and I live with my aunt. I want to be a truck driver when I grow up. I miss my parents all the time, but up until now I’ve been upset that they abandoned me.”

If you want to help the poverty children to go to the Literacy classes, please contact Genesis-AOM at aomongolia@magicnet.mn or Asian Outreach International at info@asianoutreach.org