Education Mongolia
Some of the long-term benefits of early childhood education include: fewer referrals to special education, higher grades, better social skills, and greater ability to focus. As well, some studies show that children attending kindergarten are better integrated socially as an adult, able to earn more income and less likely to commit illegal acts. In fact, evidence from long-term evaluations show that participating in early education programmes increases high school graduation rates by as much as 44 percent. This is also important to law enforcement because high school dropouts are three-and-a-half times more likely than high school graduates to be arrested, and more than eight times as likely to be incarcerated. |
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| Reintegration and Sponsorship schools |
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Many children in Mongolia leave school in primary grades, the main reason being a shortage of financial resources to buy school supplies and uniforms. In 2002 CNCF established a small schoolhouse in Songino Kharkhin District of Ulaanbaatar, at the same site as the CNCF Blue Skies Ger Village, for a reintegration school. Classes are also taught to sponsorship children in the same building as the CNCF Ulaanbaatar offices. The aim of these CNCF programmes is to help children overcome the challenges of extreme poverty while passing the examinations required to rejoin their District School.
Warm clothes, shoes and school uniforms are supplied by CNCF and the neediest families receive food packages for the Mongolian New Year and may qualify to be enrolled into the Give a Ger and Sponsorship programmes where possible. A total of 104 children attended the two schools in 2009 and almost all of them achieved re-entry to the state system.
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The Education Assistance Programme
This programme enables the CNCF School Inspector to visit children that have transferred from the CNCF School to the State School System to assess their progress and assist the children with any challenges. Our aim is to ensure the continuity of education once they have left the auspices of CNCF, and we hope that giving this support will encourage them through graduation. |
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| Blue Skies Kindergarten |
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The kindergarten in the Blue Skies Ger Village was extended in 2007, almost doubling the capacity. In the school year 2009 we were able to admit 60 children: 8 from the CNCF Ger Village and the remaining from the local community. The children are aged between 2-6 years and follow programmes based on the State Pre-School Curriculum, in a warm and caring environment. Their activities improve their physical and social development as well as preparing them for school with basic mathematics, Mongolian language and art.
If you are interested in more information on this please contact your nearest CNCF office. |
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| Prison Education Projects |
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In the course of Christina's research into the plight of children in Mongolia, a major need became apparent that within the prison system of Mongolia the idea of rehabilitation is ignored, even for children (owed much to the Russian concepts of punishment). Most imprisoned children are left uneducated and receive no assistance in terms of post-release adjustment or counseling resulting in cycle of re-admission for many youths.
There is one Children's Prison in Mongolia and it accommodates boys only. Girls are held in a separate unit within the Women's Prison. CNCF provides full-time education at the Boys' Prison and CNCF teachers work three days a week at the Girls' Section of the Women's Prison. While most incarcerated children are illiterate, the studies concentrate on reading, writing and mathematics as teaching literacy has a profound effect on children. The children study hard and with a renewed sense of self esteem, they are able to communicate by letter with their families, relieving some of the loneliness common to prisoners. The number of children admitted to the CNCF project fluctuates depending on the number of children sentenced or released.
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Music and Arts Programme
In 2009, almost 90% of the Ger Village children were enrolled in music and arts education classes which aim to help children spend their free time productively. Children enrolled in music and art classes have taken part in national and international performances and play a wide-range of musical instruments.
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