MP P.Altangerel answers questions
on a program called Teacher that he has developed and will submit for
discussion by Parliament at its Autumn session.

What
is the program about?

Policy makers talk only
about mining, livestock, gold and copper and leaves out the issue “Who will
develop Mongolia?” Teachers who educate our children, the country’s future,
receive no attention. How much salary do they get? The government must consider
this. There is a law on the Government’s Special Fund. This fund is responsible
for over 20 other funds such as the health fund and the livestock protection
fund. A draft law to make changes in this law has been approved by the Standing
Committee on Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science for further
discussion. Teacher is included in this. The standing committee established a
working group and appointed me its head. We have to develop the basic
directions and submit it to the Parliament by September 20.

Teacher
sounds very general. Can you elaborate it a little?

When we talk about
education, the policy developers usually refer to high education – which is a
wrong way to address the matter. Lack of interest in general education and
kindergarten education is resulting in “low quality products”. Teacher does not
refer only to teachers’ salaries and social welfare. It seeks to determine who
will train teachers in kindergartens and secondary schools. That is where the
main products are developed. When we talk about education, we discuss school
repairs, ignoring the need to keep  teachers abreast of new methods and systems.

Where
will  teachers be given these refresher
trainings? In Mongolia or abroad?

The entire system and
standard of our education needs review. Does the 12-year system suit Mongolia? Now
there is talk of adopting the Cambridge system. Will it be good to implement
this system in all schools? Even though the curriculum up to the 6^th
grade has been changed, the higher classes are teaching the same lessons.  

Many children live in dormitories
in the countryside. Is this practice suitable for Mongolia? In the socialist
era, teachers were given 45 days of training every five years. They were given
additional training based on changes in the world education system. But this
practice is no longer followed.

Our mineral resources are
exhaustible. We need human resources that will be forever. Countries like
England and Japan developed by the quality of their human resources.  We need to follow them. We must not poison the
minds of people talking about distributing money by digging the underground
treasure.