Two officials of the University of Cambridge International Examinations (CIE), the world’s largest provider of international qualifications for 14–19 year olds and a part of the University of Cambridge and a not-for-profit organization, were in Mongolia for a week recently to study the education system here and to offer suggestions to make it internationally competitive. Their focus was on primary and secondary school education and they interacted with educationists, teachers, Ministry of Education officials, and scholars at the Education Institute, the Mongolian National University, the University of Education and the Center for Educational Evaluation. They also visited the state-owned New Era school, to see how Mongolian and English are taught there.

Our journalist talked to the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Yo.Otgonbayar, about what to expect from the visit.

How did the visitors find the Mongolian primary and secondary school system?
We have a legal obligation to have our education system reviewed every five years against international standards. The visitors were reasonably impressed with our work. We shall follow their standards until 2018. If we do that, certificates and diplomas issued by Mongolian Institutes would be internationally recognized.

Have our teachers studied the experience of other countries that adopted the Cambridge standards?
Certainly. Prime Minister S.Batbold arranged during his recent visit to Australia that volunteer teachers from there would teach in our laboratory schools. International experts have said the standard of Mongolian education will improve if its basic structure is reformed.

How about refresher courses for teachers?
It will be a large project to re-train 26,000 teachers in our secondary schools and will take many years. The Ministry will hold such training at Teachers’ Development House, which would be ready in 2011. We shall set up 30 schools offering bilingual education.

What would constitute the re-training program?
This is a national program and some changes will have to be made so that the standards of Cambridge are followed.