26th National Congress on Rural Education

How to effectively provide early childhood education for rural children?: lessons and suggestions

Tumendelger Sengedorj and Nemekhjaral Taisaa

Mongolian National University of Education

March 29, 2021

Outline § Research frame and methods; § Brief introduction to Mongolia; § Brief description of the education system of Mongolia ; § Brief description of early childhood education education; § Public expenditure on ECE; § The key issues in ECE for the nomads; § Alternatives of ECE for the nomads: advantages and disadvantages;§ Conclusion and recommendations

Brief introduction

Title of slide can go hereResearch frame and methods

For overview: § Analysis of existing secondary data (2018-2020);

ECE issues of children of nomadic households:§ Secondary data analysis; § Analysis of the previous studies; § Qualitative study (interviews in Bulgan, Uvurkhangai and

Ulaanbaatar) in 2020

Brief introduction to Mongolia § Mongolia is landlocked county in East Asia and located

between Russia and China; Territory is 1,564,116 square kilometres, and with a population of just 3.297 million, and themostsparsely populated countury.

Urban population 2,258,981 68.5

Rural population 1,037,885 31.528.7% -nomads in rural population, NSO, 2020

Brief description of the education system of Mongolia

Age Year Stage Educationlorganization

Education

22- 2+3 Postgraduate Master, Doctor, and; Science doctor

18-22 (23)

4 Undergraduate Bachelor

16-18 2 Technicaleducation

School of technical vocational education

Complete secondary and technical vocational certificate

16218 3 Upper secondary School Complete secondary12-15 4 Secondary (basic) Incomplete secondary 6-11 5 Primary 2-5 4 Pre school Kindergarten

Literacy rate:

98.42%

Brief description of early childhood education education

854 878 889 910

500 538 546 529

2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020

Number of the kindergartens in Mongolia, MES

public private

219811 233015 239764 242623

23621 23705 21590 20710

2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020

Attendents in early childhood education service, MES

in kindergarten in alternative service

7.9%

70%

Total under 2 ages 2 years old 3-5 years old 6 years old

2016-2017 31254 387 4814 25233 820

2017-2018 29493 365 4791 23549 788

2018-2019 30960 402 5139 25353 66

2019-2020 31891 522 5172 26134 63

Number of students from nomadic households:

11.8%

Public expenditure on ECE

20% 20% 20% 20%

29%27%

24% 23%25% 26%

24%

2010 f\y 2011 f\y 2012 f\y 2013 f\y 2014 f\y 2015 f\y 2016 f\y 2017 f\y 2018 f\y 2019 f\y 2020 f\y

Expenditure share on ECE in educational budget, Mongolia, MES, fiscal years

28%32%

25%

18%

24%29%

24%19% 20% 19%18% 18% 18% 18% 18% 18% 18% 18% 18% 18%

2010 f\y 2011 f\y 2012 f\y 2013 f\y 2014 f\y 2015 f\y 2016 f\y 2017 f\y 2018 f\y 2019 f\y

Investment share on ECE in total investment of educational sector, MoF,

fiscal years

q Government spending on preschool education, has been relatively consistent, 23-24% of total public education expenditures since 2016 (MES, 2020);

q Investment share on ECE is permanently higher than average (MoF, 2019);q Donors have been also allocating significant funds for ECE’s investment (WB, 2017).

The key challenges in ECE

§ Less enrollment rate in rural area – 46%;

§ Lower representation of herders in ECE;

§ Lower enrollment of poor household background –40% less than others.

§ Lack of access of kindergartens in Ulaanbaatar because of population.

(WB, 2017)

§ Out of parental caring or out of preschool?

§ Affects of the lower level of school readiness ot the lower achievement in primary school (especially students from poor families);

§ Lower effectiveness and efficiency of public expenditure to nomads kids while public expenditure on ECE is increasing (WB, 2017).

Which is the better version among the alternatives?

The key issues in ECE for the nomads:

Choices of ECE for the rural children: q Regular kindergartens in soum (village) centerq Ger (yurth) kindergartenq Visiting teachersq Home based ECEq Mixed classes in bagh (rural) kindergartens

Regular (fixed) kindergartenAdvantages

§ Daily teacher’s teaching, support and assessment;

§ Complete ECE curriculum;

§ Higher benefits from ECE.

Disadvantages (herders’ children)§ Living away from

parents\carers or one of them (separate her\his parents or one of them)

§ Some negative consequences associated with failure childhood attachments

Ger kindergartensAdvantages

§ Easily accessible for nomad households; § Provide opportunity to socialize for

children with other children;§ Better support and participation of

parents or carers;§ Daily access of professional teachers’

training although in short time period;

Disadvantages

§ Limited time period – incomplete ECE curriculum;

§ Expensive maintenance costs § Limited budget – only for 21 days’

operation; § Lack of professional teachers and

quality issues; § Lack of access for the other

neighborhoods if ger kindergarten is not operating for them;

Visiting teachers Advantages

§ Providing opportunities to study while children are staying with their parents parents or carers.

§ Develop individual learning skills;

§ More participation and supports of parents or carers;

§ Reaching children in remote area;

Disadvantages

§ Only for 5 years olds; § Incomplete ECE curriculum; § Lack of professional

teachers; § Lack of teaching\learning

materials; § Limited numbers of visiting

to the target children’s home because of limited budget allocation

Home based ECEAdvantages

§ Complete learning ECE curriculum; § Quality and various learning

materials; § More participation and supports of

parents and local community; § Regular professional teacher’s

supports, advices and evaluation.

Disadvantages§ Only for 5 years olds but quality is

better; § Limited access because it is

operating in only few soums; § Lack of support of parents who are

illiterate.

Mixed klasses in bagh \rural\ kindergartensAdvantages§ Daily teacher’s

teaching, support and assessment;

§ Complete ECE curriculum;

§ Socialize with and develop children from older childs;

§ Staying with their parents parents or carers;

Disadvantages§ Lack of access for

remote nomadic households;

§ Higher workload for teachers

§ Lack of budget.

Conclusion: § Although public expenditure on ECE is increasing but ECE

enrollment rate is the lowest among the socioeconomically disadvantageous people including poor nomadic children;

§ Improving accessing to ECE among the children from nomadic households but the alternatives should be evaluated in terms of quality;

§ According to the findings of the qualitative study indicates home based ECE is better one but funding issues is arising;

Suggestions

§ Integrate the effective evaluation system into ECE in Mongolia and explore the best effective alternatives in term of cost and quality;

§ Introduce a mixed approach of visiting teachers and home based ECE along with the operating ger kindergarten or bagh kindergarten.

References § World Bank., (2017). Pre-primary education in Mongolia: access, quality of service

delivery, & child development outcomes. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. § Ministry of Education and Science (MES) (2020). Brief introduction of statistical

information on ECE in 2019-2020 academic year. Ulaanbaatar, MES. § MECS, UNICEF (2010) Scaling up ECE in Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar. § MECS, UNICEF (2011) Improving access to and quality of alternatives in ECE.

Ulaanbaatar. § Julia Morgan, Tumendelger Sengedorj. Early Childhood Education (ECE) for

Nomadic Children in Mongolia (not published yet)§ Batstetse S, Batjargal G, Nyamdorj M, Ulziitungalag Kh, and Tsendsuren T (2021)

On some issues of Preschool Educational service (in the example of a 24 hour kindergarten). Ulaanbaatar. easychair.org/publications/preprint_english/fMfB(accessed 20th January 2021)

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