UNICEF gives Tuvan children a better chance to learn with mother-tongue textbooks

Uudoo is rehearsing the poem she wrote in Tuvan that she will recite at her graduation ceremony.
©UNICEFMongolia/2017/OdgerelMyagmar

Nearly 1,800 kilometres from Ulaanbaatar on the western-most edge of Mongolia, remote Tsengel soum in Bayan-Ulgii province is probably the only place in the entire country where children grow up speaking three different languages – Tuvan, Kazakh and Mongolian. Tuvan children speak their native language at home and learn Mongolian when they start school. Some also learn Kazakh from their friends in the neighbourhood, which is predominantly Kazakh, or from their classmates when they start secondary school, which is also attended by Kazakh children.

When there is a will, there is a way: Investing in early childhood development (ECD) in Nalaikh, Ulaanbaatar

Uranbileg and her favorite Teddy bear
©UNICEFMongolia/2016/Mungunkhishig Batbaatar

“I want to be a doctor when I grow up so that I can heal others,” says 5-year-old Uranbileg, also known as Urnaa. She lives in Nalaikh, a peri-urban district in the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Her bright, intelligent smile belies the chronicle of her past pain and doubt. Having been born with bilateral orofacial clefts, her parents wondered if her little daughter would have a normal life in the future.

Inclusive society starts in school

Shuree likes to read and dreams of becoming an actress

 ©UNICEF Mongolia/2016/Enkhzul Altangerel

      From the pile of letters, Munkhshur picks letter “Р” to complete the word “САР” which means “moon” in English. “I know how to spell many words. Do you want to see the others?” smiles Shuree, as her friends call her, eager to show what she has learned at school.

Үндэстний цөөнх Тува хүүхдийн боловсролыг дэмжих нь

Эх хэл дээрээ шүлэг уншиж буй Тува охин

@НҮБ-ын Хүүхдийн сан/2014/ Х.Гансүх

Найман настай Болормаа алслагдсан хязгаар нутаг болох Баян-Өлгий аймгийн Цэнгэл сумын бага сургуулийн 3-р ангид суралцдаг Тува охин юм.

Улаанбаатар хотоос бараг 1800 км-ийн зайд үзэсгэлэнт мөнх цаст Алтайн нурууны хормойд орших Цэнгэл сум бол 1600 орчим Тувачуудын нутаг билээ. Баян-Өлгий аймгийн олонх иргэд нь үндэстний цөөнх болох казахчууд тул эдгээр хүмүүсийг "цөөнхийн дундах цөөнх" хэмээн нэрлэдэг. Цэнгэл сумын нийт хүн амын дөнгөж 20 хувь нь Тува бөгөөд үлдэх хүмүүс нь казахчууд билээ.

Supporting education of Tuvan ethnic minority children in Mongolia

A primary grade Tuvan girl reciting a poem in her mother tongue

©UNICEF Mongolia/2014/Gansukh Kh

Eight year old Bolormaa is a Tuvan girl who is in Grade 3 of primary school in a remote border soum, Tsengel, in Bayan-Ulgii province.

Located nearly 1,800 km away from Ulaanbaatar, at the skirts of the picturesque snow-capped Altai Mountains, Tsengel soum is home to around 1,600 Tuvans. These people are a “minority among a minority”, since Bayan-Ulgii province itself is predominantly inhabited by the Kazakh ethnic minority. In Tsengel soum, only around 20 percent of the population are Tuvans and the rest are Kazakhs.

Making all kindergartens child friendly

Bat-Erdene listening intently ©UNICEF/Mongolia/2015/Altangerel Sandag

Bat-Erdene stares at the piece of paper, with a look of intense concentration. He is drawing his favourite character, spider-man. Before beginning the drawing he debated with his kindergarten teacher how much paper he needed to draw spider-man. He wanted a bigger piece of paper in the room, instead they compromised on a smaller piece.

Private and public sectors working together to improve children’s lives

Gavkar playing at kindergarten

©UNICEF/Mongolia/2015/Zetty Brake

The sound of laughter and children’s voices floats across the grounds at Kindergarten 152 in Nalaikh, a small city 40 kilometers from Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar. It is coming from the two white gers, Mongolia’s traditional, mobile home that sit in front of a multistory kindergarten building.

Welcome to School: Ensuring education for children with disabilities

Davkhar launches a paper plane he built outside the 

family home © UNICEF Mongolia/2014/Andy Brown

Outside a ger tent, Davkhar’s brow is furrowed in concentration. His nimble fingers fold the piece of paper in his hands, making a paper plane. He finishes, looks up and throws the plane.  It flies for a few seconds before floating to the ground. After a few more test runs, he squats down to the ground and starts making adjustments to the plane. On the next attempt it flies further.

Writing a bright future: Literacy rates in Mongolia

Children raise their hands during class at school in Khuvsgul, northern Mongolia 

© UNICEF/NYHQ2012-1786/Sokol

Earlier this month was International Literacy Day. Mongolian literacy rates are, for adults over 97 per cent, youth (15-24) male above 94 per cent and female youths over 97 percent. These rates are higher than the global literacy rates, which sit at 84.3 per cent, 92.1 per cent and 86.9 per cent respectively.

Schools for Asia: Providing a better education for Mongolia’s Monk Boys

13 year old Enkhbayar in class at the monastery
© UNICEF Mongolia/2012/Sabine Dolan

Gandantegchilen Monastery, Ulaanbaatar. It’s early morning and still dark outside the Gandantegchilen Buddhist Monastery in Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar; the voices of young monks chanting their prayers can be heard.

The boy monks who live in this monastery come from very different backgrounds but all have been selected for a life of prayer and contemplation. Until recently, aside from studying religion and scriptures, the children here did not have access to basic education.  This changed two years ago, thanks to a UNICEF-supported initiative to reach out-of-school children.

Khuvsgul school children look forward to clean water and proper sanitation

Khaliunaa and Bulganaa outside their home with their parents
© UNICEF Mongolia/2013/Andy Brown

Khaliunaa, 13, and her sister Bulganaa, 9, live in Tarialan soum, Khuvsgul province. Their father Buyanbadrakh, 44, and mother Narangerel, 38, are herders living a nomadic lifestyle. They move several times a year in search of better pasture land for their herds. Their only income comes from their livestock. Life can be hard. The family live in a remote area in the north of Mongolia where the winters are harsh.

The family are in their summer home, a small wooden cabin on the steppe. “We have 500 livestock, mainly sheep and goats plus a few horses and cows,” Buyanbadrakh says. “In summer we live 12 kilometres from the soum centre. In winter we are further out, 28 kilometres away. This winter the snow was heavier than usual but we coped. We didn’t lose any animals.”

Rolling stone: helping herder families with a mobile kindergarten

Erka holds up her picture of raindrops in the ger kindergarten classroom
© UNICEF Mongolia/2012/Andy Brown

Six-year-old Erbenebayar, or ‘Erka’ for short, lives with a semi-nomadic herder family in the remote Khuvsgul province of Mongolia. They are based in a bagh (small district) around 20 kilometres from the nearest settlement, Tsagaan-Uur soum (village). There are no proper roads. Erka’s parents have to look after their livestock and cannot take her to the soum centre every day. Luckily, there is a mobile kindergarten nearby that she can attend.

Photos: mobile ger kindergarten

UNICEF Mongolia is providing mobile ger (tent) kindergartens for herder families living in remote areas of Khuvsgul province. They come equipped with toys, learning materials and furniture. This is a unique solution to the problem of providing education to a nomadic population.

To view the full photo captions, expand the gallery and click 'show info' in the top right corner.

Mountains, yurts, nomads and herds

UNICEF reports on efforts to support inclusive education for children in remote communities in northern Mongolia.