Ulaanbaatar
55 percent of children with disabilities attending schools and kindergartens
Society
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On June 3, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene met with representatives of persons with disabilities to hear about their pressing issues and discuss possible solutions. The meeting took place at the Rehabilitation and Development Center for Children with Disabilities.
The citizens expressed their wish to be involved in loans from the SME Development Fund as well as mortgage soft loans. As only 55 percent of children with disabilities are attending schools and kindergartens, they then requested the Government to pay more attention to the matter.
They also put forth various suggestions to the Prime Minister, which included establishing a fund to support the development of persons with disabilities, making public transportation more wheelchair-accessible, and having more frequent sign language interpreting for TV programs.
Noting that the Government must comprehensively resolve the issues of its citizens, Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene obliged the Minister of Labor and Social Protection to make a report on the suggestions at the next week’s Cabinet meeting. A three-year action plan is planned to be developed by taking the suggestions into account.
“The Government is ready to provide support in order to have persons with disabilities be involved in mortgage soft loans. However, our persons with disabilities should participate and be more involved in society. In order to make that happen, a unified standard must be established for apartments and entities,” highlighted the Prime Minister.
Through the fees imposed on entities that did not hire persons with disabilities, the Employment Promotion Fund continues to grow each year. So far, the Government has made the decision to fully utilize MNT 8.3 billion, the funds that were gathered in 2020, in financing works to support the employment of persons with disabilities.
The Labor Law of Mongolia requires entities with more than 25 employees to ensure that 4% of their employees are persons with disabilities. However, as its implementation continues to lack, the Prime Minister announced that a representative of persons with disabilities will be appointed as his advisor to tackle the issue.
“With the employment of persons with disabilities on all levels of government organizations, it will become possible to resolve the pressing issues,” said Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene. Starting from next week, it was also decided to have a sign language interpreter present Cabinet meeting news alongside the Prime Minister’s press representative.
