Strangling Education
In the 1980s, education administrators used to say Russian schooling is the only and best way to educate. However, between 1990 and 2000 it ordered Mongolians should be Mongolian. Instead of teaching Russian language, they extended Mongolian language class and taught the classical script. Since 2000, education officials have championed the Japanese and Chinese education systems as the most suitable options for Mongolia. In this globalising world, Mongolians are sure to travel to other Asian countries, they said, so students must acknowledge the traditions and cultures of these societies.
Yet, some high schools last year introduced American and Cambridge systems.
It would be a disappointment if the Cambridge system was necessary to change and save Mongolia’s education sector, bringing it to the international stage. Instead, Mongolia should try to find its own solutions by establishing relationships between teachers and students and motivating their intellectual creativity.
The issue has divided education experts. While one side will not support introducing another country’s education system, the other insists on having a standard that meets global education criteria.
A Ministry without Goals
“The education system in Mongolia has a great vision for what could be accomplished”, said N. Oyuntsetseg, director of the Professional Training and Research Centre. “According to the current education law, an important goal has been set to bring Mongolia’s education system to international standards. However, its final results are very different from what originally was sought”.
She added that education should focuses on imparting knowledge, ethics and the ability to work and live independently “with a sense of humanity”. However, she warned Mongolic could not realise this goal as things stand.
Minister of Education and Science Luvsannyam Gantumur defended the proposed system, noting, “It is unfortunate that young people think of education only as a piece of paper, called a diploma. This shows how devalued it has become”.
“The three main characteristics of education are morality, knowledge and ability. All this chaos will be eliminated with the help of a revised policy. Mongolia’s education sector will have the right structure and strong fundamentals in the next four years. The Cambridge system will continue as planned”.
Parliament has enacted many regulations and systems of standards for education in the last two decades. After each election, the new minister of education promises change, but the final results always remain the same.
Many people wait in anticipation for Minister L. Gantumur’s attempt to reform the education system. But, in addition to reforms, education needs joint policy and purpose. The developers of Mongolia’s education system tend to forget that their main concerns should be teaching students practical skills. Research shows that education today only provides lessons with nothing but monotone instruction, with some teachers even demanding their students learn books by heart.
“There should be space for students to learn and think on their own. Their intellectual and practical abilities must be observed especially”, said Darma Batbayar, a state recognised author and lecturer at Ikh Mongol College
“Doing so would allow them to develop further. If a child wants to draw a flower in black and white, let him or her be. Instead of allowing that, Mongolian teachers demand that they draw flowers with green leaves”.
Choices
While in Mongolia lectures are the golden standard, it is quite the opposite in foreign countries. Teachers listen to what their students have to say and answer their questions. This allows them to liberate their students’ minds and develop their skills. It also helps strengthen speaking skills. Students and parents are lost in translation with all these Cambridge, American and Mongolian education theories. They don’t know how to distinguish between them to decide which are good or bad. Many have only heard about the Cambridge system. Some say, however, that it does not suit the aptitude of Mongolians. But others, such as Director of Elementary Education Centre D. Erdenechimeg argue to the contrary.
“This reform is the result of research that has been conducted over the last 20 years”, she said “There is no experimentation. The system allows us to go get a more comprehensive, suitable and useful education. Every aspect of this system is clear: the implementation, the scale and its directions.” Erdenechimeg said that Mongolia will have fully prepared schools for the transition in 2015, with the transition to be complete and meeting standards by 2017. Although bringing primary education to international standards is praiseworthy, some worry its is only a tactic to homogenise populations. It is also apparently flawed, with foreign press reporting that the American education system that receives praise in Mongolia is considered out dated in the United States. Both teachers and students have demanded reform to education there as well.
The Cambridge system will not bring education in Mongolia up to international standards all at once. The first changes must be introduced with the relationship between teachers and students. There is also a lack of confidence and trust among education representatives. “In a small-populated country like Mongolia, the education system must be very specific. In densely populated countries, the government must run a policy to educate people in general. But in our case, we must focus on each and every individual person”, said Olonlog University Director D. Bayarjargal,
“Enforcing a system that fits a greater audience in Mongolia might become a major force pushing the sector to fall. Eliminating the standards that have been enforced for so long to shift to a whole new system automatically is very wrong. The number of private schools with Chinese, Japanese and American systems has increased. As a result, Mongolia’s young people don’t know or don’t understand the culture and traditions of their home country”,
Making Policy
There is plenty to correct and adjust in the current education policy. The government has plans for this. In its programme, the government states “Competitiveness and the quality of the education system will be improved. The government will support actions to enhance the standard and requirements that would upgrade education. Certifying and reducing disqualified school would be a priority”.
The government should focus on improvement and qualification. Some education workers have proposed to eliminate literature class from the secondary school curriculum. Meanwhile, they complain about insufficient budgets for reform. Nagoya University gets USD 1 billion for its annual budget. It is not much compared to the annual budgets of the Universities of Tokyo and Kyoto. Around 7 percent of the budget comes from the tuition fees paid by its students. In Mongolia, the annual budget of the National University of Mongolia is USD 17 million, 92 percent of which comes from tuition fees. With this in mind, it seems Mongolia’s own education ministry has no right to set such high requirement for school officials. The new education minister once said in an interview that the education sector does not need money for reform or to maintain a satisfactory education system. It just needs the right teaching methods.
If so, then the only hope left is that the Sincere Mongolian Individual programme is a success.
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