NON-STATE ACTORS IN EDUCATION
2.2 Non-state education provision
3.1 Regulations by distinct levels of education
- Early childhood care and education (Entry/Establishment ○ Financial operation ○ Quality of teaching and learning ○ Equitable access ○ Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability)
- Primary and secondary education (Entry/Establishment ○ Financial operation ○ Quality of teaching and learning ○ Equitable access ○ Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability)
- Tertiary education (Entry/Establishment ○ Financial operation ○ Quality of teaching and learning ○ Equitable access ○ Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability)
3.3 Supplementary private tutoring
In the 2005 Law on Education, there is no specific definition of private providers. However, it specifies two types of private schools: for-profit and non-profit. Non-profit private school is a legal entity that utilizes the profit (income) only for performing main activities and the capital is not redistributed as shares. A for-profit private school is a legal entity that pursues profit-making, whose investment is divided into shares and the shareholders receive a dividend.
2.1 State education provision
State schools
In Mongolia, most general education schools in primary (5 years starting at age 6), lower secondary (4 years starting at age 11), and upper secondary (3 years starting at age 15) are public schools (80%), according to the MES statistics. The Constitution of Mongolia defines that public general education shall be provided free. The Law on Education stipulates that both primary and lower secondary education are compulsory.
Non-state managed, state schools
No information was found.
Non-state funded, state schools
No information was found.
2.2 Non-state education provision
Independent, non-state schools
Private schools are owned, managed, and financed by NSAs established under the Law on Education.
State-funded (government-aided), non-state schools
Private schools are owned, managed, and financed by NSAs established under the Law on Education. According to the Law on Education, in addition to NSA financing, private schools are entitled to state financing through per student funding mechanism based on the amount of tuition fee. The 2016 Government decree specifies the amount of per-student funding.
Contracted, non-state schools
No information was found.
2.3 Other types of schools
Homeschooling
According to the 2018 Minister’s decree (Regulation on delivering primary and secondary equivalency programs, 2018), non-formal education equivalency programs can be delivered by distance learning mode.
Within the framework of the Government resolution (Measures to implement inclusive education, 2020), alternative delivery models including mobile teachers shall be developed for children with severe disabilities.
Remote learning, in TV and online modalities, was adopted as a learning strategy during COVID-19 in all levels of education regardless of ownership (Law on COVID 19 prevention, fight, and mitigation of its socioeconomic impact, 2020).
Market contracted (Voucher schools)
No information was found.
Unregistered/Unrecognised schools
No information was found.
The Government of Mongolia and the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) are responsible for determining the national education strategy as well as legal and policy frameworks for all education levels. The MES is responsible for regulating private education settings at all levels. There is no specific department responsible for NSAs, but Departments responsible for different levels of education are responsible for both state and non-state educational institutions. Department of Preschool Education is responsible for all types of kindergartens and other early childhood providers. Department of Primary and Secondary Education is responsible for all general education schools regardless of type. Finally, the Department of Higher Education is responsible for all institutions that provide higher education.
Education Evaluation Center, as stated in the Law on Education, is an agency under the Ministry of Education and Science that is responsible for evaluating the quality of education at all levels regardless of ownership type.
Municipal education authorities (provincial education departments and Metropolitan Education Department) are responsible for the authorization and monitoring of private pre-primary and general education schools.
Authorization and monitoring of private HEIs are the sole responsibility of the MES.
Vision: Except for the provision on the Education National Program 2010-2021 (Adopting National Program, 2010) to provide policy support to private kindergartens and schools and improve the learning environment at private HEIs, the relationship or policies or partnership with NSAs are absent in any education strategies and plans.
3.1 Regulations by distinct levels of education
Early childhood care and education (ECCE) covers children from the age of 2 to 6 which is a school entry age (Law on Preschool Education, 2008).
There are no services for children younger than 2 years old. The National Agency for Child, Family and Youth Development, under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, is responsible. Kindergartens, the main preschool education institution, can be established by municipalities (65% of total kindergartens) or non-state actors (individuals, commercial entities, and other organizations, 35% of total kindergartens). Most preschool-aged children (85.7%) go to public kindergartens, according to the MES statistics.
Registration and approval: According to the Preschool Education Law, all kindergartens, regardless of ownership type, must comply with facility and learning environment standards as well as food, sanitary, hygiene, and safety norms. For more information, see Multi-level regulations.
Licence: See Multi-level regulations.
Profit-making: See Multi-level regulations.
Taxes and subsidies: See Multi-level regulations.
Quality of teaching and learning
Curriculum and education standards: See Multi-level regulations.
Teaching profession: According to the Preschool Education Law, all kindergarten teachers regardless of ownership type must have at least Bachelor’s degree in preschool education and possess a teaching licence.
Fee-setting: See Multi-level regulations.
Admission selection and processes: No information was found.
Policies for vulnerable groups: No information was found.
Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability
Reporting requirements: According to the Preschool Education Law, the kindergarten director has the responsibility to ensure, monitor and report the implementation of education policies, laws and regulations.
Inspection: See Multi-level regulations.
Child assessment According to the Preschool Education Law, the regulation on assessing skills, competence, and development progress of a child shall be adopted by the Cabinet member in charge of education. The regulation must be abided by all types of preschool education services including those by NSAs and alternative programs.
Sanctions: See Multi-level regulations.
Registration and approval: See Multi-level regulations.
Licence: See Multi-level regulations.
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH): According to the Law on Education, facilities and equipment in education settings shall meet health, hygiene and safety requirements and be conducive to the special needs of children with disabilities. In education settings provided by NSAs, the founders are responsible for ensuring the implementation of the above.
Profit-making: See Multi-level regulations.
Taxes and subsidies: See Multi-level regulations.
Quality of teaching and learning
Curriculum and education standards: See Multi-level regulations.
Textbooks and learning materials: According to the Law on Primary and Secondary Education, textbooks must comply with education standards. Primary and secondary textbooks are developed, printed, and distributed by the regulation ”Developing, printing, and distributing primary and secondary education textbooks” approved by the Minister in charge of education.
Teaching profession: According to the Law on Primary and Secondary Education, all teachers are trained at teacher training HEIs and possess a teaching licence. Non-state providers have autonomy over salary and benefit-related issues.
Corporal punishment: According to the Law on Education and Ethics Code in education, all school personnel are prohibited to use any type of violence including corporal punishment and psychological abuse and are prohibited to disclose personal information.
Other safety measures and COVID-19: Minister of Education and Science approved a temporary regulation on discounts on tuition fees in relation to the measures to fight COVID-19 pandemic. The regulation also specifies that private general education schools with annual tuition fees higher than 10 million MNT (approximately 3 500USD) would not receive state financing based on the per student funding mechanism.
Fee-setting: See Multi-level regulations.
Admission selection and processes: According to the Minister’s order, general education schools, regardless of ownership type, are required to admit students to 1st grade without any type of entrance examination.
Policies for vulnerable groups: No information was found.
Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability
School board: See Multi-level regulations.
Reporting requirements: According to the Law on Primary and Secondary Education, school principals have the responsibility to ensure, monitor and report the implementation of education policies, laws and regulations.
School inspection: See Multi-level regulations.
Student assessments: According to the Law on Primary and Secondary Education, student knowledge, skills, and progress in learning shall be assessed during the learning process, at the end of each grade level, and at the end of schooling. Student assessment is carried out by teacher assessment, school-level examination, and external evaluation body. The assessment regulation shall be adopted by the Cabinet member in charge of education. NSA provision needs to abide by the regulation governing the quality assurance policies (Regulation on student assessment at general education schools and education quality assessment, 2018). According to the Law on Primary and Secondary Education, the Ministry of Education and Science, through Education Evaluation Center, is responsible for ensuring the quality in general education schools regardless of ownership.
Diplomas and degrees: See Multi-level regulations.
Sanctions: See Multi-level regulations.
More than half of the students in HEIs are enrolled in state HEIs, according to the MES statistics. There is no further data on the prevalence of each type of institution.
Registration and approval: See Multi-level regulations.
According to the Law on Education, the authorization to establish HEIs shall be granted by the government authority in charge of education (i.e. Ministry of Education and Science) in correspondence with requirements set forth in Articles 15.7.1, 15.7.4, 15.7.8, 15.7.9, 16.2.4, and 16.3.3 of the Law on Licensing.
Licence: See Multi-level regulations.
Profit-making: See Multi-level regulations.
Taxes and subsidies: See Multi-level regulations.
Quality of teaching and learning
Curriculum and education standards: HEIs must have curricula that is endorsed by the Academic Council and approved by the President of the HEIs. General requirements for curricula shall be set by the government authority in charge of education.
Institutional accreditation is mandatory and program accreditation is voluntary.
Teaching profession: The teaching faculty at the undergraduate level at all institutions regardless of ownership type shall have at least a master’s degree; at postgraduate level, the teaching faculty must have at least a doctoral degree. At engineering and technology colleges, professional engineers can teach. Teaching faculty at HEIs who do not have teaching qualifications must attend a pedagogical course. General requirements and criteria on teaching position and rank shall be adopted by the government authority in charge of education. According to the Regulation on the typology of HEIs, teaching workload including research work must be adopted by the HEIs. According to the Law on Higher Education, the teaching faculty shall enjoy the rights to favourable conditions of work, remuneration, and rest. NSAs have the autonomy to set their own working conditions and benefits.
Fee-setting: See Multi-level regulations.
Admission selection and processes: No information was found.
Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability
Board: According to the Law on Higher Education, the self-management of non-profit, public and private HEIs shall be exercised by the Governing Board. The management of for-profit, private HEIs shall be regulated by the Law on Company. The Governing Board shall consist of: founders (51-60% of the board members shall be from founders); teaching faculty; student; and alumni.
Reporting requirements: According to the Law on Higher Education, all HEIs regardless of ownership type must have a financial audit every two years and report publicly.
Inspections: See Multi-level regulations.
Student assessments: The Education Evaluation Center is responsible for the university entrance examination for students to access higher education.
According to the Law on Higher Education, knowledge, skills, and competence of HEI students shall be assessed by the regulation set by the government authority in charge of education.
Diplomas and degrees: See Multi-level regulations.
Sanctions: See Multi-level regulations.
3.2 Multi-level regulations
The Law on Education first adopted in 2002 regulates the establishment, financial operation, quality, equity, and safety and well-being at all levels of education, from pre-primary to tertiary education.
Registration and approval: Education settings at any level can be established regardless of ownership type, if requirements in the following areas are met: Building and facility; Equipment; Textbooks and learning materials; and teaching staff.
The owner shall apply to the relevant municipality education authority with the following documents, that include the decision by the relevant authority to establish the education setting (request letter, charter and agreement for establishment), the narrative that includes rationale and financial calculations, the syllabus details on teaching faculty, the details on facility, equipment, books and learning materials, the proof of financial sources and capacities, the list of investment (monetary and in-kind) by the owner, amount, and proof and the land permit.
In addition, detailed guidelines and templates are provided in the Requirements to documents to obtain a special licence to offer preschool, primary and secondary education (Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science, 2010) and Regulation on typology of HEIs.
Based on the licence, State Registration Agency registers education settings (kindergarten, school, or HEI) as public, non-profit, or for-profit.
Licence: Upon approval, authorization is granted for five years.
Profit-making: According to the Law on Education, a non-profit private school is a legal entity that utilizes the profit (income) only for performing main activities and the capital is not redistributed as shares. For-profit private school is a legal entity that pursues profit-making, whose investment is divided into shares and the shareholders receive dividend.
Taxes and subsidies: According to the Law on Business Entity Income Tax, income from economic activities in connection with the implementation of the purposes specified in the charter of a non-profit legal entity shall be exempt from income tax.
Quality of teaching and learning
Curriculum or education standards: The Law on Education specifies that preschool, primary and secondary education core curriculum must be implemented by all education settings regardless of ownership.
According to the Constitution of Mongolia, the national minority can access education in their mother tongue. Therefore, the Kazakh and Tuva population in municipality of Bayan-Ulgii, receive primary education in their mother tongue.
According to the Law on Mongolian Language, schools are allowed to teach in a foreign language.
Fee-setting: The Law on Education School Board and Governing Board of non-state schools have the right to set the amount of tuition fee at private kindergartens, schools and HEIs.
Quality assurance, monitoring and accountability
Board: The Law on Education specifies that the management of education settings shall be exercised by the School Board. School boards have the right to set the amount of tuition fees. They shall consist of representatives of teaching and on-teaching staff, student, parent, and other entities.
Reporting requirements: According to the Law on Education, municipal citizens representative khural (i.e. municipal council) has the right to endorse the relevant-level Governor’s reports on education-related matters as municipal Governors are responsible to provide support, specified in the relevant legislations, to NSAs providing education services. In addition, according to the Law on Education, school boards are entitled to endorse annual reports of kindergartens and schools, be informed about financial audit reports, and oversee the utilization of approved budgets and spending.
According to the Law on State Auditing, state audit is conducted to monitor the proper, efficient and effective planning, allocation, use and disbursement of public finances, budgets and public property, as well as to improve public financial management and support sustainable economic development. Since NSAs that provide preschool, primary and secondary education services receive financing from the state budget, the law is applicable to NSAs as well.
Inspection: According to the Law on State Inspection, inspection refers to a set of monitoring measures that concludes if activities /action or non-action/ conducted by an individual or a legal body, goods and commodities being produced or sold, and works and services provided meet the requirements specified in the corresponding laws and regulations (i.e. laws and regulations in education). Inspections are classified as planned and unplanned, and performance inspections. Inspections are carried out by State Inspectors (i.e. in education by State Education Inspector). According to the Law on Education, the authority/legal body that granted the authorization of the establishment shall monitor if requirements set forth for the licence are met.
Diplomas and degrees: According to the Law on Education, authorized education settings issue state-recognized educational certificates to graduates following the MES template.
Sanctions: According to the Law on Licensing, the licence is revoked by the licensing institution if it is proven that false application documents have been submitted to receive the licence; if the terms and requirements of the licence have been breached several times or have been egregiously breached; if relevant authorities prove that licence holder organized any training activity that is potentially harmful to the individual and societal interest, health and safety.
3.3 Supplementary private tutoring
No regulation was found regarding the establishment, financial operation, or teaching profession requirements for supplementary private tuition or information specific to private schools' regulation on supplementary tutoring or regulation on their teachers.
There is not much data on supplementary private tutoring. The Mongolian Dropout Study that was conducted in 2005 provides a detailed picture of the scope of this phenomenon. The study revealed that in Mongolia over two-thirds of students participated in private tutoring or a preparatory course. The capital, Ulaanbaatar has the largest figure at 73.3% with soums (villages) having 59.0%. The number of students enrolled in high demand fields were 60.4 %, with 26.9 % in average demand fields, and 12.7 % in low demand fields. Concurrently, females consistently outnumber males in all demand fields.
Findings indicated that parents with higher educational levels provided more support to their children for private tutoring. For example, childrens’ parents who had a bachelors’ degree or higher ranged from 70.5% - 70.7% while other students’ parents who simply had a secondary education was 62.6%-65.0 %.
According to students, the foremost reason is to better prepare for exams – topping at 43%. This primary reason elucidates how students perceive the importance of the exam and the future outcome it holds. Students realize that the exam result will determine not only what they study at the university but also future earning prospects. The subjects in which students are being are mathematics leading with over half at 54.2% followed by chemistry at 12.7% and in third, Mongolian at 12.0% - the native language of students.
No information was found.
Financial operation and quality
No information was found.
No information was found.
This profile was drafted by the Network of Education Policy Centers (NEPC).
