Ulaanbaatar
Schools to reopen for the new academic year with classes taking place both in-person and online
Society
Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Today, on August 4, Minister of Education and Science L.Enkh-Amgalan introduced the Cabinet’s decision to resume the operations of all levels of educational institutions for the academic year of 2021-2022.
While school operations have been halted for 75 days or 47 percent of the academic year of 2019-2020, the number of school days lost due to COVID-19 disruptions increased to 100-110 days in the next year, which is 62-68 percent of the academic year of 2020-2021. 60 percent of total school days with classroom lessons have been lost in the past two years, highlighted Minister L.Enkh-Amgalan.
Studies have found that 185 thousand schoolchildren were unable to watch tele-lessons due to reasons such as having no access to a reliable source of electricity and internet as well as electronic devices. Furthermore, 470-500 thousand students are estimated to have fallen behind in studies. Thus, the Cabinet came to the decision to resume school operations in phases, with lessons taking place both in-person and online.
The Education Minister then said, “Children aged 4 and 5 will be admitted to kindergartens. Similar to schools, the operations of kindergartens will be allowed to resume, providing both in-person and distance learning from September 1. As for educational institutions in green zones, all lessons will be organized in classrooms.
TVET, colleges, and universities are allowed to resume operations, with classes taking place both in-person and online from September 13. This is due to the general entrance exams scheduled to take place between August 19 and 22. If schoolchildren are unable to take the exams due to the pandemic situation, the general entrance exams will be organized again.”
Currently, 60 percent of the total population of Mongolia have been involved in COVID-19 vaccinations. 90 percent of school and kindergarten teachers are projected to be fully involved in vaccinations by September 1. Furthermore, 60 percent of children aged 12-17 (220 thousand out of 270 thousand children) have been administered with both doses of vaccines.
