UN Resident Coordinator meets Minister for Education and Science of Mongolia

During the meeting, Mr. Mishra had the opportunity to emphasize the need for accelerating sustainable development efforts to achieve SDGs by 2030. For this, he reiterated the importance of engaging with all stakeholders in the development of coherent and integrated policymaking and implementation of the SDGs. Such, he asserted the vital role of academia for evidence-based policy analysis and the integration of education for sustainable development in the educational curriculum.

Minister L. Enkh-Amgalan explained his short and long-term goals for the reform in the education sector of Mongolia. His short-term priority is to tackle education disparities and learning loss due to the disruption by COVID-19 in in-class education. He expressed his concerns that more than 170,000 children, which is about 24 per cent of all children in general education, are struggling with learning loss, especially among the children who lack enrollment to e-learning platforms due to limited access to electricity, electronic devices and the internet.

He introduced his 10-year plan to reform Mongolia’s education sector through legislative and policy revisions. For this, he expressed his appreciation for the education policy reviews done by UNESCO, which will serve as a basis for this ambitious reform within 2024-2034.

In his talks, the Minister highlighted the recent contribution by UNICEF, UNESCO and UNFPA on strengthening the e-learning platform to tackle challenges in remote learning for Mongolian children.

Mr. Mishra said: “Investment for the education of children is the best investment that will bring multiple benefits to the country.”

Both parties agreed on the importance of leveraging digitalization in the education sector to address the gaps in education at all levels, especially for children in rural areas where there are limited access and opportunities.

Lastly, Mr. Mishra had the opportunity to highlight the importance of improving nutrition and diversify food intakes for the children through school tea programmes that can benefit more from domestic food, milk and dairy production. Minister L.Enkh-Amgalan assured that the Government is planning to scale up the school tea programme to lunch programme which will start next year.