(An education system that reinforces the divide between the rich and the poor)
In South Africa, white schools have been invested in for many years while black schools had no budget. This has made an already racially discriminatory society even more divisive and unstable. They used to call their country a ‘cappuccino society’ with black coffee on the bottom, white foam on top and cocoa sprinkled on it. Today, the Mongolian government is building a ‘cappuccino society’ by using an education system that reinforces the difference between the rich and the poor.
Three new members of the Parliament (G. Damdinnyam, G. Amartuvshin and Kh. Gankhuyag) have proposed to select 100 public schools to have a Cambridge program in the next four years. Indeed, Mongolia’s education system needs to be improved and elevated to the international level. Again, not just a few schools, not just a few children, but all schools need to be fully prepared and start implementing this program at the same time. This is because in the last two decades, private kindergartens, schools, and so-called public laboratory schools have rapidly divided the society.
General Education Schools as a profitable business model
Society develops and gets stabilized only when kindergartens and general education are equally accessible. Such a system reduces social inequality and provides equal starting opportunities for all children.
As of 2019-2020 academic year, a total of 640,000 children study in 662 public and 158 private schools in Mongolia, and more than 58,000 children graduate each year. Only 7.3 percent or 47 thousand children study in private schools. In public schools, more than 50 children study in one class, and the quality of education deteriorates due to overwork required of teachers. In contrast, there are less than 20 students in one class in private schools. Competent teachers are getting attracted to these by a high salary. The quality of education is very different. Parents look for a good school for their children, choose high-cost private schools far away from home, and increase the traffic congestion in the city.
As of now, many former and current members of Parliament, ministers, and public officials have obtained ownership of many private schools. They have turned education into a business model since the schools charge high fees from students’ parents while they benefit from the state budget as per variable depending on the number of students.
In addition, three pilot public schools have been established in 2010. Most of the graduates of these schools get admitted to the best universities in the world. 15,000 children are competing for 100 positions in these three schools. They have bilingual programs such as Laboratory and Cambridge, select the best performing children. Usually, children from middle- and upper-middle-income family’s study there. In 2015, the salary expenses were 47 percent higher than that of regular schools, and other variable costs were 25 times higher. Our country spends 4.2 percent of its GDP and 12.4 percent of its budget on education. Nevertheless, it is not possible to introduce the Cambridge program into all public schools, the state budget just cannot afford it. We do not have to pay billions of tugriks to the Cambridge examination companies, since we now have experience and capacities to launch our own similar program.
Towards a more unequal society
Nowadays, Mongolian education policy discriminates against children based on their origin and parents’ wealth. For a long time now, our government decision-makers have been living in guarded buildings, they do not go to public hospitals, do not send their children to public schools, and do not use public transportation. Instead of investing in public schools, they build private schools, set high fees that average family could not afford, thus built an ‘invisible fence’ in the society.
Inequitable policy is not only a moral but also a systemic issue. The soil on which unstable politics and ultra-nationalists are formed is social inequality. This will eventually lead to the collapse of the system. Public uprisings would occur from time to time. In the United States, for example, there was a movement called ‘Occupy Wall Street’.
As inequality increases, there is no social mobility. This means that we will not hear a lot about herder’s child going to Harvard. In such a society, a ‘hereditary meritocracy’ is being formed, in which only politician’s child becomes a politician and the herder’s son remains a herder. Therefore, the provision of quality and equal education to every child without discrimination is the basis of justice in the society.
Education is an important tool to reduce social inequality. This was fully understood in Finland and therefore, the education system was reformed. In the early 1970s, children’s education outcomes were dividing the society and created disparity. The government began the education reform policy in the 1980s, based on three principles: equality, efficiency and solidarity. Today, Finland became the country that have the highest educated people in the world. The education system serves all citizens equally. In Finland, all schools are state-owned. A few independent schools are state funded as well. Teachers do not monitor and assess student performance. The secret of the ‘Finnish miracle’ is believed to be the teacher. Teachers develop work plans, curricula and work independently. The teachers must hold at least a master’s degree. The state covers that cost. The teachers have full opportunities for professional development. Read more in Teacher Development is National Development.
In South Korea, the Minister of Education announced last year that private schools with separate programs will be closed. He stated we should pursue an education within which the children are equal, without any discrimination.
The choice to flee or join
Fees for all private general education and kindergarten schools should be linked to the average income, variable cost from state budget may be charged if a child is enrolled from an eligible district. However, these schools admit children based on their abilities, and the government provides variable costs based on the number of each children, while they do not accept children from their districts although these schools receive high fee from children’s parents.
This has even been legalized. Article 41.1 of the Law on Education states that “the source of funding for non-governmental education institution shall consist of the founder’s capital, a portion of normative expenditure per student from state budget, tuition fees, donations, soft loans, and own operating income”. Recently, at the Cabinet meeting on May 27, 2020, it was decided to allocate a total of 50.2 billion MNT in variable costs for private schools and kindergartens.
In Mongolia, the gap in general education continues over a lifetime gap.
In his “Exit, Voice, and Loyalty”, Albert O. Hirschman states, when the quality of any service or system deteriorates and becomes unprofitable, people have two choices: to exit or to make their voiceheard. He said if the opportunity to get out of the system is easy, people will not have to raise their voices and demand improvements. Many people are fleeing out of the system in Mongolia. The better educated ones are going to the world’s biggest schools and come home, only to return to overseas in short time. This is called a “brain drain”. It has become a common thing for skilled people to live and work in developed countries, to return home for summer vacations, and to visit their relatives only once a year.
The success of the Mongolian society will depend on the provision of a quality common education to all citizens in an equal way. The development prospects for the next 30 years depend on today’s education policy.
2020.08.26
Trans. by Riya.T and Sungerel.U