Ulaanbaatar, October 13, 2014 -- For over 20 years the World Bank has supported the Mongolian government’s educations reforms and has implemented a total of 46.8 mln dollars grant to the education sector.
The World Bank and the Ministry of Education and Science began the implementation of the Early Childhood Education Project with the grant from the Global Partnership for Education of 10 million dollars in 2012.
The aim of the Global Partnership for Education – Early Childhood Education (GPE-ECE) Project is to provide access to early childhood education for children in disadvantaged communities and reduce the social inequality in Mongolia. This aim of involving herders’ children in early childhood education is being achieved by increasing access to preschool education, creating alternative preschool classes, improving teaching and learning environment, and providing learning materials, furniture, equipment and toys.
“We are delighted to be assisting Mongolia in educating its younger generation” said James Anderson, the Country Manager of the World Bank to Mongolia. “The Early Childhood Education Project strives to ensure that all children have access to education, that all can share opportunities for prosperity, a key goal of the World Bank Group.”
One hundred ger-kindergartens were supplied and distributed to rural areas of 100 soums of 14 aimags with large populations of herders’ children and where the pre-school enrollment rate is especially low. Each year 2,500 children have benefited and ger kindergartens are providing a convenient way for children of herder families to get early childhood education.
“The mobile ger kindergartens have become an important tool to increase the preschool enrollment in rural areas. The newly built kindergartens in Ulaanbaatar city and the ger-kindergartens will help children develop the skills to succeed throughout their education and throughout their lives.” said the team leader of the project Prateek Tandon.
Under this project, 17 new kindergartens with the capacity of 100 children each are being built in 8 districts of Ulaanbaatar. Furniture, kitchen and other equipment, indoor and outdoor playground toys, carpets and bedding are also supplied to the newly built kindergartens.
Presently, the State Professional Commission has approved the completed buildings of 10 kindergartens that began their operations; the remaining 7 will be completed by end of October this year. These kindergartens will provide a child-friendly environment and offer high quality learning conditions for over 1,700 children in Ulaanbaatar including remote districts such as Bagakhangai, Baganuur and Nalaikh.
Initial survey results have shown the satisfaction of local communities. Teachers, rural soum governors, parents of the students and remote herders have expressed strong support for the project’s interventions and the improvement of the delivery of these services.
