The State of Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems:
Obstacles, Challenges, Opportunities

Human Rights Educationin Mongolian Schools
Altangerel Choijoo

he 1992 Constitution and relevant laws
brought by Mongolia’s transition to a
democratic nation-state identify education
as a key component in its development.

Ｔcapacity.” This mission statement is asignificant step in changing the previous
theoretical and conceptual framework ofMongolian education.

The new educational policy is supported byseveral laws and resolutions passed by theState Great Hural (Parliament of Mongolia)
in 1995 including the State Education Policy,
the Education Law, the Higher Education
Law, and the Primar y and Secondar y
Education Law. These laws introduced thepolicy of democracy and openness ineducational administrative structures,
decentralized the administration andfinancing of all public schools, transferredt h e m a n a g e m e n t o f s c h o o l s to l o c a lgovernments in the aimags (provinces),increased the autonomy of colleges anduniversities, and enabled the establishmentof private educational institutions.

In accordance with Paragraph 7, Article 16 of
the 1992 Constitution of Mongolia, the stateprovides free general education for all.
Paragraph 2.3, Article 39 of the Law on
Education provides that a child shall be
provided with free, compulsor y basic
education up to seventeen years of age, andhis or her interest and desire to learn should
not be hindered. On the basis of thisprovision, Paragraph 1, Article 6 of the Law
on Protection of Child Rights (1996) statesthat the State shall support free general
education, study of native language, literacy,and development of each person’s abilities.
The Education Law and the State policy
provide for the basic principles of educationsuch as a free general education for all,creation of all conditions for children’s
education, equality and non-discriminationin education.

Educational Policy Environment andHuman Rights Education
T h e S t a te E d u c a t i o n Po l i c y d e f i n e s
education as a priority sector of society, as
well as an important source of support for
rapid growth in scientific, technical,
economic and social development fields.1 In
the policy, education in Mongolia has themission “to create the environment andconditions favorable for the citizens ofMo n g o l i a to c h o o s e a n d o b t a i n t h eknowledge, capacity, technology and culturalvalues needed for their life and work in a
democratic society showing their full

Another feature of Mongolia’s development
is the country’s adherence to human rights
standards. Mongolia has ratified over thirty
major human rights treaties and protocols.
Thus, fundamental human rights principles
have also been incorporated in Mongolian
laws. Mongolia has made progress insubmitting regular reports required as partof the State parties’ obligations.
At the national level, a number of national
policies and programs in relation to human58

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

rights education have been adopted such as
the National Action Plan for Human Rights(2003), the Master Plan for Education(2006-2011)2 and a set of policies on National
D e v e l o p m e n t S t r a te g y b a s e d o n t h eMillennium Development Goals (2007). 3
The State Great Hural, in defining its
Millennium Development Goals (MDG),
added the 9th goal of “Guaranteeing Human
Rights and Strengthening Democratic
Governance.” Also, it approved the inclusionof human rights in the “MDGs of Mongolia
and their indicators” through Resolution #25(2005).

rights by promoting public awareness onhuman rights and legal protection.”5
It also states that, on the basis of theresearch on the current state of human rights
education in the country, the formal andnon-formal education systems for
Government Cabinet oﬃcials, leaders, andstudents at all levels shall develop humanrights education programs. It further statesthat a sub-program on training national
trainers and educators to support andencourage advocacy through the mass media
shall be developed and implemented.
Knowledge of human rights shall be used asa criterion in selecting oﬃcers in public
services (e.g., administrative and special
professionals like teachers and social
w o r ke r s ) . 6 Un f o r t u n a t e l y, t h e S u b Programme on Human Rights Education has
not yet been developed.

Na t i o n a l Hu m a n R i g h t s Ac t i o n
Programme 4
The State Great Hural adopted the National
Hu m a n R i g h t s Ac t i o n Pr o g r a m m e(NHRAP) in October 2003. The NHRAP
sets out the direction and methods of 1)
broadening and making efficient theparticipation of state organizations, civilsociety, (particularly, local self-governingorganizations,non-governmentalorganizations [NGOs], and the mass media)
and the private sector in strengthening state
efforts to guarantee human rights andfreedoms. It also encourages citizen’s
i n i t i a t i v e s o n t h i s t a s k ; a n d c r e a te sm e c h a n i s m s to e n s u r e h u m a n r i g h t s
protection, prevent violations, and provide
remedies when rights are infringed. In
conformity with the nature of democracy
and market relations, the main objectives of
the NHRAP are to reform social, culturaland intellectual relations in support ofhuman rights and freedoms, including
through social and state institutions, andlocal administrative systems; and to broaden
state coordination and legal guarantees andcreate appropriate human rights
mechanisms.

The NHRAP has provisions on the role of
the National Human Rights Commission ofMongolia (NHRCM) and NGOs in humanrights education, and on specific humanrights education and training activities.7
There is therefore a clear legal mandate forrights-based education and education about
and for human rights. On the right toeducation, NHRAP provides that:• The form, content, and delivery ofeducation shall be continually reformed
to meet modern requirements. A legal
environment and the necessar y
implementing actions shall beestablished to meet the natio na lobjective of providing free andcompulsory primary education for all
children.
• Policies shall be developed to eliminate
the disparities in access to education
between rural and urban areas. Informal
and distance learning courses tailored tovarious age and gender groups shall be
developed to eradicate illiteracy.

The NHRAP justification and goal include“reform [of] the system, content andmethodology of education, and [the teachingof] skills necessary to enjoy and protect one’s• Steps will be taken to improve theconsumer value of secondary education
59

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

and to enable graduates to explore theirprofessional interests. Schools shallbegin to oﬀer vocational training.

being implemented stage-by-stage as part ofthe development of the national social andeconomic potentials.

• The educational and cultural rights ofminorities shall be guaranteed throughpractical measures to preser ve theheritage of native languages and scripts,
customs, history and cultural traditions.

Master Plan of Education in Mongolia 2006–2015 9
The Government of Mongolia has adopted a
Master Plan of Education in Mongolia 2006-2015 that defines an overall framework
for the development of the education sector
and aspires to be more responsive to thedemonstrated needs of children and youthby:• Special attention shall be paid tostabilizing the supply of rural teachersand facilitating their work. Steps shallbe taken to ensure that all mandatoryclasses designated as such by the central
public administration are taught,
including if necessar y during nonscheduled hours. School oﬃcials shall beheld accountable if mandatory classes
were not held.
•❍ Promoting the de velopment of alearner-friendly environment❍S h i f t i n g t o a c o m p e t e n c e - b a s e dcurriculum

Public and non-governmentalorganizations and community groups
shall be encoura ged to provide
educational opportunities, collaborate
through common information networks,
continually monitor and analyze thesituation and oﬀer solutions.

❍ Strengthening planning and monitoringmechanisms.
The plan is considered to be the first in
Mongolia to be developed utilizing a sectorwide approach. It builds on an earlier work
to develop an Education for All (EFA)
Action Plan. The Master Plan places highpriority on the expansion of the school
system, and seeks to bring it in line with
global practices. This objective drove theshift to the newly implemented twelve-year
educational system and the launch of a new
curriculum with output-based learning
objectives for the 2008-2009 academic
years. The strategy will incorporate more
frequent renewal of education content,
textbooks, curriculums, and standards forschool environments.

• Step-by-step actions shall be taken to
broaden the economic and financial
basis of education ser vices and tostrengthen their capacity.
National Programme of Action for theD e v e l o p m e n t a n d Pro t e c t i o n o f
Children (2002-2010) 8
The National Programme of Action for theDevelopment and Protection of Children is
an important document covering a wide
range of issues such as child health,nutrition, development, education, social
participation and protection of their rights
and their living environment. The objectiveof the program is to build a legal
environment to protect the rights ofchildren in Mongolia, and to develop
children themselves, allowing them to obtain
good quality education and profession, andto improve their livelihood. The program ispart of the state policy on population and is

Finally, the Master Plan reveals a soundunderstanding about a range of issues thathave relevance to education about and forhuman rights: vulnerable groups, enrolment,
school retention, issues relating to herderchildren, dormitories, the school
environment, gender, disability, inequality,
access to information and communication
technology (ICT), health and hygiene.10 It
also provides for mid-term issues and targets
relating to early childhood education,
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Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

primary and secondary education, nonformal and adult education, technicaleducation and vocational training (TVET),
and higher education. 11 The section on
primary and secondary education defines the
program, program content and outputs
under Access, Quality and Management
components.12 Strategies to improve accessand equity include training teachers, theintroduction of new learning methods andappraisal systems, development of special
programs, and the development ofeducational resources.

policy, management and support tochildren.
In principle, all programs recognize these
five dimensions as necessary and mutually
reinforcing conditions of CFS success. A
school is child-friendly where all of theelements are addressed, and the ability to be
child-friendly on each dimension is enhancedby action on the others.
In Mongolia, the “child-friendly school”
project started in 1999. Since that time,
UNICEF, the Government of Mongolia, andother stakeholders have been active partners
in implementing this initiative. The Ministryof Education, Culture and Science developeda p o l i c y d o c u m e n t e n t i t l e d “ Po l i c y
Framework for Promotion of Child Friendly
Schools” in 2004 to promote child rights inever y school. 14 This policy document
includes basic principles, framework ofactivities, implementing strategies andadministration support, assessment and its
indicators. In order to achieve this goal, thepolicy document provides the following
objectives:

Policy Framework for Child Friendly
Schools Promotion 13
The “child-friendly school” (CFS) concept,
now spreading throughout the world since
its introduction in 1997 in Thailand, refers toproviding learning, working and living
environments that are healthy, safe, andprotected. A child-friendly school must
respect child rights and ensure equal accessto education by all children regardless ofnationality, race, physical disability, andsocial background.

❍ To provide equal access to educationand equal opportunities to participate inall school activities for all children

T h e C F S f r a m e wo r k co n s i s t s o f t h efollowing five dimensions:
1. Proactively inclusive, seeking out andenabling participation of all children andespecially those who are different
ethnically, culturally, linguistically, socioeconomically, and in terms of ability;❍ To promote healthy, safe, protective,
addict-free school environment❍ To promote gender equality❍ To enhance community participationand partnership2. Academically eﬀective and relevant tochildren’s needs for life and livelihood
knowledge and skills;❍ To provide quality learning environmentthat addresses each child’s learningneeds as well as eﬀectiveness.

3. Healthy and safe for, and protective of,children’s emotional, psychological, andphysical well-being;

Structure of the Mongolian Education
System

4 . G e n d e r- r e s p o n s i v e i n c r e a t i n genvironments and capacities fostering
equality; andThe central education authority in Mongolia
is the Ministry of Education, Culture andScience (MECS). It defines policies withregard to education, science and culture andit is responsible for the implementation ofthese policies. In addition, MECS publishes

5. Actively engaged with and enabledstudent, family and community
participation in all aspects of school
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Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

and approves textbooks and curriculums andprovides support for the supervision of local
educational centers and national universities.
Each of Mongolia’s twenty-one aimags(provincial centers) has an Aimag Education
and Culture Department within the local
government, which ser ves as the local
educational authority. This Department is
responsible for the administration andmanagement of government services relating
to formal and non-formal education.

upper secondary level. Graduates from
Grade 9 can join technical and vocational
training schools. Higher education in
Mongolia is provided by universities, colleges
and institutes for mostly four to fiveacademic years.
The education system is centralized and the
MECS and its implementation units, such as
local education departments, have theprimary responsibility for educational policy,
curriculum design and practice at the local
level.

The Mongolian education system includes
pre-school education (kindergarten) andgeneral secondary schools (primary, lower
and upper secondar y). Schools for the
primary, lower and upper secondary levels
generally do not exist separately. The
Mongolian Law on Education (2002)
mandates that every Mongolian regardless of“ethnicity, language, race, gender, socioeconomic status, wealth, employment,
position, religion and personal values” has aright to receive education in his/her native
language (Article 5.1.4) and must attend basic
education (Article 6.3) provided by the state
free of charge as required by theConstitution of Mongolia (Article 6.2). 15

According to educational statistics, in the
2009-2010 academic year 142,065 children
are enrolled at eight hundred fourteen
kindergartens (preschool institutions),
522,100 students at seven hundred fifty-fivepublic and private secondary schools, 44,600
students at sixty-three vocational training
institutions and 164,700 students at the one
hundred for ty- six public and private
universities and colleges.16 The accumulated
number of learners comprise almost thirty
percent of the total population. High level ofenrolment at formal educational institutions
presents certain advantages in providing
human rights education in the primary andsecondary schools.

Pre-school education (kindergarten) is notcompulsory and caters to children aged three
to six years. According to the latest
education reform plan, Mongolia will shift toa twelve-year education system (6+3+3) from
2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 a c a d e m i c y e a r s . Pr i m a r y
education covers a period of six years for
pupils aged six to eleven years and iscompulsory. Lower secondary education is
the final stage of compulsory schooling andlasts three years (age group 12-14, grades 7-9),
w h e n c e r t i f i c a t i o n o f n o n - c o m p l e tesecondar y education is granted. Upper
secondary school consists of grades 10 and 12
for sixteen to eighteen year-old students.
Up p e r s e c o n d a r y e d u c a t i o n i s n o tcompulsory; however, it is a prerequisite forcollege admission. The school year consistsof thirty-four working weeks at the primaryl e v e l, th i r t y- fiv e weeks at the lower
secondary level, and thirty-six weeks at the

Hu m a n R i g h t s E n v i ro n m e n t a t
Mongolian Schools
The implementation of various education
programs over the last decade has had
substantial eﬀects in meeting the children’s
rights to education and access to educational
services. The government, since 2000, has
fully subsidized expenses in school
dormitories and took measures to repair all
school buildings. Public funding for school
dormitories has had a positive impact on theschool enrolment rates since 2000.
Nowadays, the literacy rate and educational
levels of the population of Mongolia hasapproached that in developed countries.
This is a result of the attention thegovernment has given towards the62Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

involvement of ever yone in education,
providing education of appropriate level toall students and preventing them frompossible dropouts by creating a relevant legal
environment closely related to the specificfeatures of the phases of the social andeconomic development of the nation and by
taking organizational measures for
implementing those laws and legislations.

“economic” violence by teachers in the formof imposing informal payments. Rural
students more frequently reported physicalviolence including corporal punishment.
Health in schools
The government took strides towards
improving the physical health of students byproviding free school snacks and lunches forchildren in grades 1-5. The measure isconsidered to have had a positive impact
nationwide on primary school enrolment,
which reached 273,966 children in the
2009-2010 academic years.

Gender in educational settings
Unlike in many developing countries, girls in
Mongolia have equal access to education.
Mongolia has achieved impressive results
regarding girl’s education. In primar y,secondary and tertiary schools 50.1 percentof the students are girls. The children are notdiscriminated on the basis of gender, but the
disparity in school enrollment grows
between girls and boys as the age increases.
School enrolment indicates an unusual“reverse gender gap,” with more girls
enrolled than boys – in every province acrossthe country. This is particularly noticeable atthe higher levels of education where
typically girls greatly outnumber boys. In
secondary education, gross enrolment rates
of girls are 20 percent higher than boys,
while in tertiary education women now
account for 70 percent of all students.17

T h e Na t i o n a l S t a n d a r d s o n He a l t h
Education for primar y and secondar yschools were adopted in 1998, and at thattime lessons on sexual and reproductive
health were integrated into the compulsory
Health Education Curriculum for secondary
schools. The training of health educationteachers is now institutionalized through the
University of Education and teacher colleges,
and each secondary school has at least one
trained health teacher. However, schools facehigh turn-over rates and shortages of healthteachers. A needs assessment survey among
health education teachers in 2008 found that
more than 50 percent of health educationteachers at primary and secondary schools
have limited skills in participatory teaching
methodology and the majority of them did
not specialize in health education. About 21.5
percent of them reported that healtheducation resource materials are inadequate.
Non-formal education programs also
incorporate health education curriculum.
Unfortunately, TVET institutions do not yet
oﬀer health and sex education classes.

Violence in schools
According to a 2007 study,18 violence is highand institutionalized in the Mongolian
education sector. At least one-third ofchildren at the kindergarten through upper
secondary level reported having experienced
some form of violence (economic, emotional,
physical or sexual) while at school. The
perpetrators were, in order of frequency,
peers, older children and teachers. Girlsm o r e f r e q u e n t l y r e p o r te d e m o t i o n a lviolence, humiliation and intimidation, butalso reported physical abuse by male peers.
Boys more frequently reported economic
and physical abuse such as the extortion ofmoney by peers or older students andbullying. Across the board, children reported

Water and sanitation at schools
Water and sanitation facilities are either
non-existent or extremely unsatisfactory inmost rural and some peri-urban schools. On
top of this, monitoring progress is especially
diﬃcult because data on water and sanitation
are not integrated in the current education
63

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

management information system. In 2007, a
study on school dormitories conducted by
the MECS and the UNICEF showed that
residents at 73.9 percent of five hundred two
operating dormitories must bring water fromoutside water sources such as kiosks andwells. In 45.7 percent of the dormitories,
water did not meet hygienic standards. Only
21.7 percent of the surveyed dormitories had
indoor latrines and the remaining 78.3
percent depended on mostly unsafe andunhygienic outdoor latrines. Data on bathand shower facilities at dormitories isunavailable as well as water and sanitation
facilities inside classroom buildings.

could not accommodate the influx of
migrants from rural areas.
Children with disabilities
Children with disabilities enrolled atordinary schools would not be provided withspecial training modules, textbooks andmanuals and other needed tools. Anotherfactor aﬀecting the right to education bychildren with disabilities is lack ofpsychological preparedness and support.
Most of the children with disabilities grewup at home without effective skills forcommunication. On the other hand, aculture of acceptance and respect for special
needs of the children with disabilities is not
nurtured in the school environment.
Another concern is lack of appropriate
evaluation standards. Evaluation of children
with disabilities using assessment systems
designed for children without disabilities
leads superficially to overall underperformance of the school which is avoided
by the school administration, hence explains
to some extent the resistance to enroll
children with disabilities.

Water and sanitation significantly impact on
the quality of students’ lives and theireducational achievements. According to theabove mentioned study, students perform
higher when residing in a dormitory with acentral water supply system. The study
looked at students from grades four, six andnine, and found that those with access to awater supply system and indoor latrines
performed higher than students with nosuch access. Specifically, students withcentral water performed better inmathematics by nine points and in
Mongolian language by 7.4 points.19

Ethnic and linguistic minorities
Mongolia has twenty ethnic groups, mostly
living in r ural areas. The majority in
Mongolia consists of the Khalkh (85 percent),
followed by the Kazakhs (7 percent, whomostly live in Bayan-Ulgii aimag). BayanUlgii, with a Kazakh-majority, has some of
the country’s lowest education indicators:
the highest dropout rates, the lowest preschool enrolment rates, as well as anilliteracy rate of 6.8 percent, which is higher
than the national average of 4.6 percent. The
government has recently taken initial steps
towards mitigating the disparity between the
majority Khalkh people and the many ethnic
minority communities by providing bilingual
education to Kazakh, Tuva and other groups.

Rural versus urban
Rural to urban migration in Mongolia hasbrought new challenges to the Mongolian
education sector. For example, schools inurban centers have seen a substantial
increase in the demand for services, whilesome rural schools are now operating below
capacity. In the late 1990s, many small
primary schools in remote bagh schools(village level schools) were shut downbecause of the scarcity of students, most ofwhom had immigrated to urban areas. In
contrast, by the end of the 1990s almost allurban schools began oﬀering two shifts ofclasses each day because of overcrowding,and a few oﬀered classes in three shifts. The
students suﬀered from a chronic shortage ofclassrooms and dormitory space, which
64

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Human Rights Education and the
School Curriculumas Rule and law, Rights and responsibilities,
Government, and Applied law. “Content
domain” refers to a core knowledge system,
which develops from simple to complex
throughout primary and secondary levels.

Human rights education is becoming an
i m p o r t a n t co m p o n e n t o f t h e f o r m a l
education policy in Mongolia. Under theUnited Nations Decade for Human Rights
Education (1995-2004), the government
significantly and comprehensively revised
the legal education curriculum of secondary
schools. The revision was implemented
through the “Street Law” program of theMongolian Foundation for Open Society
during 1998-2003 period. The program
attached great importance to the humanrights education for Mongolian youth andchildren: curriculum development for each
grade contains human rights components
and in the 6th grade students study humanrights as a separate subject. The humanrights course taught since 2003 under therevised legal education curriculum aimed to
improve human rights knowledge of thestudents, develop their abilities to becomeaware of prevention mechanisms, and build
an attitude in them respectful of the rights
and freedoms of others. Certainly, thesecompetencies cannot be developed solely
through teaching methodology. Thus
application of child-friendly school policy,
rules and environment is very important.

An analysis of international curriculums
indicates that knowledge, skills and values
about and for human rights are included
across all stages of schooling and in mostsubject areas. The area of the curriculum
where there is a special emphasis on humanrights is in the subject area of Citizenship.
Given the importance of human rights andc h i l d r i g h t s i n Mo n g o l i a , a s t u d yrecommends that they be made a significant
part of the revised Civics and Citizenshipcurriculum.20
Regarding the current educational policy, theEducational Standard of History and Social
Studies at primary and secondary levelsc o v e r t h r e e m a i n s u b j e c t s : h i s t o r y,
citizenship and social studies. At the primarylevel, history, citizenship and social studies
are integrated into one subject entitled“ Pe o p l e a n d S o c i e t y. ” S t a r t i n g f r o msecondary level, there are independentclasses like Histor y, and Citizenship.
Accordingly, human rights topics are taught
from 1st to 11th grade in relation to age andpsychological development of students. Thisis an important step forward.

The comprehensive revision of the national
educational standards in 2004 is anothersignificant action taken by the government,
which includes a complete revision of all
curriculum areas for primary and secondary
schools. With the complete change in thenational educational standard of History andSocial Studies for primary and secondary
levels, human rights and citizenship arestudied both directly and indirectly from theprimary schools up to upper secondary
education levels. The Educational Standard
of History and Social Studies approved by
MECS incorporates an independent “Human
Rights Domain” throughout the key learning
areas of social science and citizenship classes
at all stages of schooling. The standard
consists of four basic content domains such

T h e s u b j e c t s a n d to t a l h o u r s o f t h ecurriculum for social studies are presented inTable 1.21
It is important that human rights topics areincorporated into the standard curriculum of
the school system. The primary vehicle forteaching and learning about human rights isincorporated within the Civics stream of theSocial Sciences learning area.
Citizenship studies, as an independent
subject in Grades 6-9 at the secondary level,
includes general knowledge of human rights,
freedom, equality, principles of democracy,
the Constitution, crime, the judiciary, theeconomic system and civil responsibilities.
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Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

Table 1: Core Curriculum for Social Sciences and Citizenship in Primary and Secondary Schools
Level

Primary Education

Lower Secondary
Education

Upper Secondary
Education

Grade

Subject

Hour

Grade 1

People and Environment

34

Grade 2People and Environment

34

Grade 3People and Environment

34

Grade 4People and Society

36

Grade 5People and Society

36

Grade 6

Citizenship-I

37

Grade 7

Citizenship-I

37

Grade 8

Citizenship-II

37

Grade 9

Citizenship-II

37

Grade 10Social Studies-I

57

Grade 11Social Studies-I

114

Grade 12n\a-Knowledge, skills, attitudes and criticalthinking acquired at the secondary level are afoundation for civic empowerment.

Total Hours

211

111

171

following: K1 - construct knowledge on thes u b j e c t , K 2 - t a ke a c t i o n u s i n g t h i sknowledge, K3 - learn life skills, and K4 learn citizenship and social values.

Following are the diﬀerent components of
the Citizenship Studies subject:
Objectives and outcomes: CitizenshipStudies subject aims to develop learningcompetencies that include knowledge, skills,
and attitudes for citizens. The goal of sucheducation is empowerment, that is, giving
students the knowledge and skills to takecontrol of their own lives and participate indecisions that aﬀect them.

Methodology: New objectives, principles,a n d c o n te n t a r e r e q u i r e d to c h a n g emethodologies for all classes. The newstandard suggests that teachers combine avariety of interactive and participatory
techniques for their classes. It encourages
the critical analysis of real life situations,taking appropriate action to protect humanrights and various participation methods indecisions that aﬀect them.

Contents: As above mentioned, the Social
studies classes consist of four domains: Ruleand law, Rights and responsibilities,
G o v e r n m e n t , a n d A p p l i e d l a w. Fo r
citizenship classes, the competencies are the

Evaluation: The former education standard
on student assessment concentrated only onknowledge. Now, student assessment isbased on the competencies acquired by thestudents during their studies.
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Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Human rights education is incorporated into
Citizenship and Social Sciences education at
all levels of schooling. However, the ‘scope,’
or what is taught, in Citizenship and Social
sciences can be defined diﬀerently by thedifferent curriculums. If human rights
education is primarily located within the
Citizenship area at primary, lower secondary
and upper secondary schools, then it needs
to occupy a clear and significant place withinthose curriculums to meet national goals,
priorities and obligations relating to humanrights.

teaching and learning about human rights
into other subjects like Histor y, Arts,
Mongolian and foreign langua ge andliterature and other curriculums.
Within this change, besides teaching humanrights, the secondary schools must:❍ Ensure that all other subjects studied insecondary schools are based on humanrights-based approaches;❍ Ev e r y o n e , i n c l u d i n g t h e s c h o o lmanagement and other staﬀ should be
accountable for creating the humanrights environment in their schools;

Following the 2006 amendments to the Law
on Primary and Secondary Education, thesecondary education school system wasconverted from an eleven-year to a twelveyear schooling system starting at the
2008-2009 academic year onwards. As aresult of this transition, major reforms aretaking place in the education sector,
including revision of the primar y andsecondar y education standards andcurriculums with the following goals:❍ Provision of human rights education is
not only contingent on classroom
activities but also on the environment
outside the classroom. An important
objective of human rights education is
to create human rights culture at theschools and communities.
❍ On the other hand, human rights
education cannot be attained fully
where there is no human rights
atmosphere. Human rights environmentis a vital condition for children to learn
about their human rights. Therefore,
everything in the school starting fromthe rules and regulations should bebased on human rights.

- Bring the content of primar y andsecondary education in line with theinternationally accepted levels- Ensure applicability of educational
curriculum to Mongolian context- Increase students’ life-skills, knowledge
and capacity to encounter new andemerging challenges.

❍ The school management should take
into consideration the principles ofhuman rights for evaluation of the workof teachers, equality of opportunity
among students, accountability anddiscipline mechanisms that ensure
respect for human dignity andreputation. Democratic school
environment is the most favorable
condition for the advancement of
human rights education.

This fundamental change in the educational
standard has been bringing innovations insubject content, curriculums, teaching
methodologies and textbooks for teachersand students. Since the curriculums arechanging from being highly standardized toa more flexible and locally relevant ones
under the Education Law of 1995, schools
and teachers can use a certain part of thecurriculums for teaching whatever they see
fit. This provides an excellent opportunity
for willing teachers to teach citizenship,
human rights and democracy. Also, there is a
big opportunity to appropriately incorporate

Teacher Training Curriculum
Teaching human rights in schools has
generally taken two approaches: integration
into existing curricular subjects, or as
separate subject. Teaching of human rights
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Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

should be a fundamental organizing principle
for professional practice, so that al lprospective teachers come to see themselves
as human rights educators and advocates.22
Therefore, the most important task ofteachers would be the integration of humanrights education within their subjects. A
second approach in order to expand humanrights education in schools is to trainteachers in order to enhance their awarenessof human rights and improve their teachingskills in active and participatory learning.
Thus, teachers should explore human rights,
freedoms and justice issues in their personal
and professional lives.

findings into instructional content of
the teacher education programs- Develop theoretical and methodologicalteaching aids on human rights education
and rights -based approaches to
education- Conduct trainings and workshops on
human rights education for pre-service
and in-service teachers, trainers andeducation professionals- Conduct independent reviews andstudies on human rights education,
children’s rights issues and other aspects.
One substantial input of the Center is theintroduction of new academic course on"Children's Rights Education" at the MSUE.
The course is a one-semester compulsory
course for pre-service teacher-students,
those majoring in teaching social studies andhistory. The course is designed to develop
the knowledge, skills attitudes ofundergraduate students with regard tohuman rights education at secondary schoollevel. The teacher-students will be able toteach and disseminate child rights issues andtools to their students, the other members of
the school community, and the whole society.
The course has sixteen lecture and thirtytwo seminar hours. Each seminar begins witha short introduction to the topic underconsideration and its key issues andproblems. During the seminar sessions,students use a variety of resource materials
related to child rights issues such as violencein school, child labor, school environmentand children's meaningful participation.
Through the course, students can learn many
interactive and participatory methods andgroup discussion, presentations, etc. Allteacher-students are expected to present atleast one course paper during the classes.

The United Nations World Programme on
Human Rights Education declares that
introducing human rights education inprimary and secondary education implies
that the school becomes a model of humanrights learning and practice. Within theschool community, teachers, as the main
depositories of the curriculum, play a keyrole in reaching this aim.

Thus, the role of the teacher training
institution is of particular importance inenhancing the quality of teaching
methodologies and strategy in the area of
human rights education and for the creation
and best use of learning materials.
The Human Rights Education Center(HREC) was established in May 2006 at theMongolian State University of Education(MSUE), the largest teacher training
institution for all educational and science
sectors of Mongolia, within the frameworkof the joint project on child-friendly school
between MECS and UNICEF. Branches ofthe HREC were established at teacher
colleges in Arkhangai, Bayan-Ulgii and
Dornod provinces. In line with its goals, theHREC undertakes the following activities
for the pre-service and in-service teacher
training programs:

Although HREC is a newly-establishedorganization, the following activities havealready been implemented:- Conduct needs assessments and studies
on human rights education and convert• Over nine hundred sixty students fromMSUE were involved in pre-service
68Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

teacher training on the principles of theConvention on the Rights of the Childin education during four-year period(2007—2010)

course. In most of the law schools, humanrights topics are taught only within theConstitutional Law courses with no link
between human rights and specificprofessional courses. Also, university oﬃcials
tend to undermine the importance ofteaching human rights as a separate subject
and try to squeeze human rights into othercourses of legal education.23• Children’s Rights Education (manual for
pre-service teachers), Human Rights
Passport (students workbook), Violencefree School (module for in- ser viceteachers) and other teaching aids weredeveloped as part of CFS initiatives,

In 2008, the legal education curriculum oflaw schools was reviewed with the supportof the World Bank. The review clearly
showed lack of direct link between humanrights education and law courses. The
project stakeholders undertook hard eﬀorts
to develop a human rights course as amandatory course for law schools. The pilot
curriculum includes forty-hour course on
Human Rights Law and forty-eight-hour
optional course on the Rights of the Childfor their specialization.

• Pre-service teacher-students have beene n c o u r a g e d t o w r i t e t h e i r ke yassignments including diploma thesis
and course papers on child rights
education.
As a result of these activities, human rights
education courses are bringing new
approaches to teaching and learning humanrights in the teacher training system. In
these circumstances, the child rights
education course is a starting point thatincorporates human rights education into
teacher training curriculums and promotionof child-friendly approaches in Mongolia.

Non-Formal Education System

Human Rights Education at Law
Schools

While human rights education is
implemented in numerous ways through theformal education systems, it is also an
inherent part of non-formal education(NFE) programs for the citizens. The StateE d u c a t i o n Po l i c y, m e n t i o n e d a b o v e ,recognized for the first time in 1995 theimportance of non-formal continuing
education-for-all. The aim of non-formal
education is to give a wide variety ofopportunities to citizens to acquire required
knowledge and skills by forms and ways of
training appropriate for them. This is meantt o d e l i b e r a t e l y m a ke a t r e m e n d o u scontribution to the process of upgrading
their education level on a continuous basis.

Human rights have been studied in law
schools since 1997 following a joint Decree#230/200 (1997) by the Minister of Justiceand the Minister of Enlightenment, throughindependent course with thirty-six hours persemester. However, very few law schools
oﬀered human rights as a mandatory course
whereas majority oﬀered it as an optional

At the national level, the non-formal
education is managed by the MECS andthrough its agency, the National Non-Formal
and Distance Education Center (NNFDEC).
The functioning Non-Formal Education(NFE) learning centers at local levels
nationwide, called Gegeerel (Enlightenment)
centers, play a crucial role in providing

These actions are intended to provide a baseupon which to build a human rights literatesociety, specifically by integrating humanrights education into Mongolia’s formal
education system at all levels. To achieve ahuman rights literate society, the HREC ismaking eﬀorts to introduce human rights
education to pre-service and in-service
teachers, thereby creating a systematic
human rights framework in the Mongolian
education system.

69

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

educational services and retraining for the
youth, as well as adults on life-skills, health,ecology education and so on. At present,
more than a hundred training modules havebeen developed by the NFE learning centers.
Some of the modules cover the topic onsocial relationship, civic participation,
democracy as well as human rights
education.

minimum qualification standards for theteachers of human rights. The main findings
from the evaluation showed that humanrights education is still unsatisfactory at thenational level. Recommendations for future
action based on lessons learned throughout
the study were developed and disseminatedto the relevant stakeholders, government
authorities and the public.

T h e Na t i o n a lCommission

Wi t h i n t h e f r a m e w o r k o f t h e w o r k ,N H RC M d e v e l o p e d t h e m i n i m u mqualification standard for teachers who teachhuman rights. The Teachers Standard has
two independent sections. The first section
is based on pedagogical competencies forteachers. It includes basic knowledge onhuman rights, and the ability to teach andadapt them to students. It means that allteachers who are teaching human rights
must acquire basic pedagogical abilities,
which will lead to preparation, teaching, andassessment for students. The second section
concentrates on human rights principles andaims to create a rights-based approaches forschool environment. This part consists ofbasic human rights principles, such as
u n i v e r s a l i t y,i n a l i e n a b i l i t y,nondiscrimination, etc.

Hu m a n

RightsThe National Human Rights Commission ofMongolia (NHRCM) has been contributing
in the effort to integrate human rights
education into the formal education system.
The NHRCM is an independent institution
mandated with the promotion andprotection of human rights and charged with
monitoring the implementation of theprovisions on human rights and freedoms
enshrined in the Constitution of Mongolia,
laws and international treaties to which
Mongolia is a party. According to its law, theNHRCM is also mandated to promote
human rights education and training.24 Since
its establishment, the NHRCM has been
taking many effor ts in human rights
education, training and information
activities.

The Teachers Standard establishes criteria toassess their performance on rights-basedlearning. It is a useful tool to develop andimplement professional development
programs and to create a monitoringmechanism to measure the performance ofhuman rights education at the school level.
Also, it can be used by education
administrators to provide financial incentives(bonuses) to teachers based on performance
results, and to improve the quality of theteachers’ instruction. The Teachers Standard
together with the Recommendations on
Human Right Education were disseminatedto the relevant authorities for future action.
Unfortunately, the MECS lacks ownershipand use of these tools to integrate humanrights education into the formal education
system.

In 2004, NHRCM implemented a projectcalled “Human Rights Education for Law
schools” that aimed to integrate humanrights courses in law school curriculums.
Within this framework, NHRCM developed
a model human rights curriculum and piloted
it in three law schools (National Universityof Mongolia, Shikhikhutag and Bileg Law
Schools).
The NHRCM has been implementing the
project “Human Rights Education in
Secondary School” with the support of
UNESCO since 2005. The objective of thisproject is to evaluate how human rights
education is taught in secondary schools,
develop proposals and recommendations to
the relevant authorities, and develop
70

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Civil Society

working on the following objectives onhuman rights education:

Over the past two decades, the Mongolian
civil society organizations have begun toreplace the government as the main providerof education. Civil society especially plays acrucial role in providing education on
democracy, civic and human rights in all
spheres of society. Their main goals are to
inform, educate citizens and disseminate
democratic values and human rights. In thisregard, a number of NGOs implement shortand long-term projects that promote humanrights knowledge and values.

1. Incorporate international human rights
norms into the Mongolian social life
2. Promote human rights education aseﬀective tool for social transformation
3. Introduce new approaches and teaching
methodologies in the human rights
education program trainings andactivities
4. Promote schools to become humanrights-friendly spaces.

For example, the Open Society Forum,
Academy of Political Education, Centre for
Civic Education, Centre for Democracy
Education, Centre for Voter’s Education,
Globe International, Amnesty International
Mongolia and Zorig Foundation conduct
training activities and academic events forboth relevant professional groups such asteachers,
government
officials,
decisionmakers and the public. Their public
education programs cover the topics ofdemocracy, rule of law, human rights, genderequality, reproductive health, gender-based
violence, civic and voter education, childrights, citizen participation, legal reform,
international treaties and many othersubjects. Most of them have developed
extracurricular programs and produced
manuals and training materials incollaboration with other supporting actors.

Within these objectives, the AIM has held anumber of initiatives, like independent
projects, advocacy, campaigns such as humanrights-friendly school, training of trainers,
human rights parade, festivals, “Belinda”
human rights education scholarshipprogram, and many other events.
In order to implement the United Nations
World Programme on Human Rights
Education, the AIM has been working forthe incorporation of human rights education
into existing educational curriculums at thesecondary school level. In this regard, theAIM implemented an independent project
entitled “Human rights education forsecondary school teachers” supported by the
Au s t r a l i a n A g e n c y f o r In te r n a t i o n a l
Development (AUSAID) and UNDP. This
project started with a training of trainers(ToT) for education experts, professors atteacher training institutions, and in-service
teachers in 2008. In order to develop a subprogram on human rights education, undert h e Na t i o n a l Hu m a n R i g h t s Ac t i o n
Programme, the AIM organized a number oflobby actions together with the MECS andNHRCM. Following these actions, MECS
has established a Working Group on thedevelopment of a sub-program on humanrights education for formal education,
comprising of staﬀ members from NHRCM,
Ministry of Justice, MECS, AIM, academia
and other stakeholders.

The Amnesty International Mongolia (AIM)is one of the leading institutions working forthe development of human rights education
program at the national level. The humanrights education program is one of the main
strategic direction of the AIM. It holds
various training, advocacy and campaign
activities for various social groups andinstitutions. The human rights education
program is one of the main components of
its current Strategic Paper and several
initiatives have been implemented under thiscomponent. Within the framework of its
2008-2009 activities, the AIM has been71

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

The AIM translated Amnesty International’s
Teachers’ Book for the Dissemination of Human
Rights and distributed copies to seventy-one
institutions, including public libraries,
schools, NGOs and human rights
organizations. Afterward, a series of ToT
seminars were organized on “Teaching abouthuman rights and responsibilities at primaryschools” and a total of one hundred thirtyeight teachers attended these sessions. The
AIM reported that “the successful
distribution of the book means that there isa need to conduct more seminars andworkshops throughout the countryside.”Inter view with the AIM staff member
reported that many teachers expressed adesire for follow-up activities and further
col laboration on the deliver y of theintegrated human rights curriculum.

International experience has also shown thatin introducing educational innovation there
is an advantage in treating the innovation asa cross-curriculum study, catering to teachersand students in a number of key learning
areas. Such an approach allows particularschools to emphasize human rights within
their curriculum. This approach to humanrights education which goes beyond theclassroom and into all aspects of school life
is commonly called a ‘whole-school
approach,’ or ‘holistic approach.’ These
terms indicate the involvement of all
members of the school community inbuilding an environment where human rights
are learned, taught, practiced, respected,
defended and promoted. Here are two
existing good examples of making schools
h u m a n r i g h t s f r i e n d l y s p a ce s i n t h eMongolian context.

In January 2010, the AIM announced thecontest on “Good Practices on Integrating
Human Rights subjects” throughout theco u n t r y. A n u m b e r o f te a c h e r s we r emotivated to develop model lesson plans that
integrate human rights issues. In just one
school, twelve model lesson plans weredeveloped by the teachers and selected as
inputs for the compilation of good practices
on teaching human rights. AIM is currently
planning to complete the compilation thatwill be distributed to schools. The
compilation of lesson plans on human rights
education will be a useful human rights
teaching aid for Mongolian teachers in local
context.

A Human Rights Friendly School
Starting from 2009, the Mongolian-Indian
joint school (a secondary school) is making
efforts to become a model for “Human
Rights-Friendly School” in Mongolia. This isa part of the first global human rights
education project for schools of Amnesty
International (AI) and the initial pilot phaseincludes secondary schools from fourteen
countries: Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Denmark,Ghana, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Moldova,
Mongolia, Morocco, Paraguay, Poland,
Senegal and the United Kingdom.
The “Human rights-Friendly School” project
aims to promote a culture of human rights inschools through supporting schoolcommunities to integrate human rights
values and principles into key areas of school
life, and to demonstrate an impact of humanrights-friendly schools approach. In short, a
Human Rights-Friendly School ensures that
equality, dignity, respect, non-discriminationand participation are at the heart of thelearning experience and present in all major
areas of school life; it is a school that isfriendly to human rights.

Good Initiatives on Human Rights
Education
Schools are widely believed to socialize
younger generations, preparing learners to
become active and democratic citizens ofsociety. Promoting human rights-friendly
educational environments is crucial toensuring a universal culture of human rights.
Schools fulfill that responsibility throughboth direct and indirect education programsfrom the beginning of the schooling years
and through the entire educational process.
72

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

The pilot phase of the project is a two-year
process running until August 2011. During
this time, AI national oﬃces provide support
to their partner schools in implementing the
project. These schools have to integrate
human rights values and principles acrossfour key area s of school life: schoolparticipation and governance; community
relations; curriculum; extra-curriculardomain and school environment.

• A ful l y democratic, par ticipator yapproach to school governance where allmembers of the school community are
involved in the decisions that aﬀects
them• Empowerment of students, teachers andstaff to meaningfull y and equal l yparticipate in the creation andimplementation of school policies• Student involvement in debates aboutchangeAI sees the “Human Rights -Friendl y
Schools” project as an opportunity tosupport countries in making human rights an
integral part of their national educations y s te m s . S c h o o l s t h a t w o r k to w a r d s
becoming human rights-friendly will act as
examples that can demonstrate that such aculture is achievable, and the tools andprocesses used to become human rightsfriendly school can be readily adapted tovarious contexts at modest expense. A
Human Rights-Friendly School has thefollowing characteristics:• An increased sense of inclusivity andinterconnectedness that fosters mutual
responsibility and local and global
solidarity• Rich learning experiences about humanrights inside and outside of theclassroom.
The table below shows the activities in four
key areas of school life for “Human Rights
Friendly School” under the MongolianIndian joint school project.

• An overall school-wide atmosphere ofe q u a l i t y, d i g n i t y, r e s p e c t , n o n discrimination and participation

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Key area 1 – School participation and governance
Develop a new vision statement - The school organized trainings
in partnership with all school
and awareness raising activities
stakeholders
among teachers and students inpartnership with AI Mongolia- In order to support staff andstudents to develop better
relationships, the school held
two training sessions forteachers focusing on education
law amendments that prohibit
corporal punishment and allforms of discrimination inschools.

73- Students were encouraged toparticipate actively in the
consultation- These activities influenced them
to follow and reflect class/schoolrules
inschoolsurroundings
A total of twenty-nine teachers
were involved. All teaching staff
received training manuals forteachers developed by Save theChildren in Mongolia.

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Conduct an internal audit of - In order to set up a school - The analysis of the school
current school policies in relation
policy in relation to humanpolicies based on human rights
to human rights and develop an
rights principles, each classprinciples and discussion of theaction plan
discussed its classroom rules
new rules by the teachers andand enabled active participation
students were successful. Theyof every student in this process.
have started implementingthem.
- Each class discussed the aim
for the academic year.
- Ensuring student participation in
the discussion on the classroom- The School Council adopted
rules and school policies
new Code of Conduct,
contributed to the deepening ofdeveloped by a working groupthe students’ understanding oncomprised of students andtheir rights and responsibilities
teachers.
and the importance of their- Classroom rules and schoolparticipation.
discipline regulations have been
displayed on the information
board in each classroom.
Support teachers and students for - The Student’s Council held - A total of four hundred sixty
representing their interests
Taking the Human Rights
three students, thirty four staffs
Temperature in Our School
and one hundred eighty three
activity in all classrooms among
parents participated in thisthe students.
assessment of the human rights
climate in the school. The first- All classroom elections held forsurvey (June 2009) had 67
class leaders.
percent score out of the 100- All Student Council members
percent human rights friendly
have been trained as humanenvironment. The second stage
rights activists inside theirof the survey had 71.4 percent
respective classrooms and theresult.
school.
- The student council has a totalof thirty two member-students,
including twelve class leaders,elected in a democratic way torepresent their classmates’interests.
- Successfullyorganized
a - After the lessons all teacher“Student Day” in the school on
students discussed the positive
5 February 2010. On that day
and negative points on thethirty four students experienced
peer-teaching process and theyteaching by peer-teaching,also shared their opinions on
replacing their teachers forbeing a teacher.
some time.

74

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Key area 2 – Community Relations
Support students to develop - In order to provide support for - Conflicts between students
necessary skills for working
managing
conflictandstarted to be discussed andtogethercommunication skills, classdealt with by the children
teachers developed their own
themselves first in sometraining agenda on newclasses under the facilitation ofsubjects likethe classroom teacher.
- communication skills- Also,teachers
facilitated- managing conflict
students’
group
in
the
- decision making.
classroom to help students
solve their problems. These
activities enabled students todevelop their skills on managing
conflict and understanding eachother.
Facilitate the involvement of - Organized trainings among - The change of methods ofparents and school communities
parents on the topic ofholding the parents meeting in“Understanding and Supporting
each classroom has beenYour Child,” “How to Help Youreffective in increasing theChild Succeed.”participation of parents. The
number and the quality of- Class teachers organized theiractivities
initiatedandparents meeting with morecoordinatedbyparents
innovative approaches andincreased dramatically.
developed their plan on
involvement to school-based
activities.
- Parents’ groups initiated anumber of life-skill training
activities including one-day field
trip to Astronomy ResearchCenter at the “Khurel Togoot.”- On the occasion of the - Increased the cooperation with
International Human Rights
public and non-governmental
Day, students groups held aorganizations, such as Police
Human Right Tour to human
Departments, Center for Childrights NGOs including Save theRights and Save the ChildrenChildren, Center for ChildJapan – Mongolia, Amnesty
RightsandAmnesty
International
Mongolia
inInternational Mongolia.
organizing training and activities
among students and teachers.

75

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Key area 3 – Curriculum Innovation
In-service teacher training on Organized trainings for all teachershuman rights
on HRFS and teaching strategies
to support participatory training
methodology and human rights
issues such as child rights, gendersensitivity, relationship between
poverty and human rights.

Training sessions are highly
beneficial to support teachers inteaching human rights-based
approaches and designed tomotivate teachers in teaching
human rights issues through theirrespective subjects.

Held three training sessions
involving all teaching staff on thefollowing topics: “Human rights
friendly teaching strategies”,“Child rights in a curriculum,”“Integrating human rights in the
curriculum,” “Child rights in school
environment,” “Non-discriminationand education law amendments,”“Positive discipline.”

All trainings strived to develop anawareness of the human rights
issues and standards among
teachers and contributed todeveloping their sensitivity to andcapability to deal with humanrights issues in daily life,
especially in the school setting.

school At the beginning of the 2009school academic year, threeschool departments audited theirrespective teaching curriculums toidentify where human rights could
be integrated and discussed how
they could be taught.
In October 2009, the departments
organized demonstration lessons
on some subjects with integrationof human rights principles. After
that, in December 2009 theschool organized a demonstration
lesson contest with the support of
AI Mongolia. A total of seventeen
teachers attended the contest
named "Integrating human rights
in a school subject."

The review of school curriculums
and the contest enabled teachers
to share their existing knowledge
and ideas about teaching humanrights and feedback to allteaching staff for further
discussion.
After practice teaching on humanrights issues, teachers agreed
that teaching basic human rights
concepts, indicators and realcases are a useful method, which
met practical requirements andstudents’needs.
Italso
empowered students to monitor
human rights’ implementation andto get the capacity to effectively
handle any problems with humanrights sensitivity.

A team of mathematics teachersorganized the monthly “Human
Rights through Mathematics”
presentations.

The activity enabled the students
todeepentheir
existing
knowledge and skills on howmathematics can clearly show
basic indicators and modeling forpoverty level, climate change,
environmental pollution, school
drop out and their relevance tohuman rights.

Review of
curriculums

existing76

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

The Technology Department
organized in February 2010 the
exhibition on students’ creative
works named “Creating Human
Rights Friendly Art Works” inrelation with the HRFS Project,.
There was a wide range ofcreative art works on display andmultimedia presentations forstudents, parents and teachers.

This activity was a very significant
contribution to realize in apractical way the child right todevelopment.
There
were
specialized subjects for thecreative works, such as fashion
designing, computer graphics
designing, interior designing, hair
dressing styles, electronics andcomputer software subjects.

Started a human rights librarywith the help from AI Mongolia.
To provide access to teachingmaterials to all teachers, theschool built a human rights
education library and received anumber of books from otherorganizations, such us Save theChildren Japan in Mongolia,
National Child Rights Centre,
UNICEF in Mongolia, and AI
Mongolia.

Now the school has a Human
Rights Education Library withnearly two hundred sixteen books
and HRFS toolkits and increased
teachers’ use of books andmaterials on human rights.

Key area 4 – Extra curricular domain and school environment
Partnership with international and In 2009 on the occasion of thenational human rights community International Human Rights Day,the school organized the Human
Rights Week (7–19 December)consisting of the follow main
activities:- Wall charts competition onhuman rights- A human rights visual arts
exhibition- Signing for human rights- Public speech on “Poverty and
Human Rights”- Mini United Nations (UN)
activity- Essay contest on “Human
Rights and Environment”

77

During these extracurricular
activities, students were highly
encouraged to participate invarious competitions, campaigns
and awareness-raising activities
and expressed their voices andsolutions to their peers, teachersand other school community
members.
Some highlights of the activities
are presented with more detailed
information below.

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Signing for Human Rights
activity:
By the initiative of 11th gradestudents, a campaign on “Signingfor human rights” conducted withthe combination of fundraisingstrategy under the slogan “A
human life” “One signature” “Ahundred tugruks”- to help end
human rights abuses.

During this activity a total of two
hundred eighty signatures had
been collected and 18,540
tugruks (around thirteen U.S.
dollars) were collected in the
charity box. These activities
focused on making students
become aware of how they could
help end human rights abuses
globally and nationally.

Mini UN is a project-basedlearning
activity.
Students
demonstrated “World Peace
Flags” and depicted theirunderstanding of the UN mandate
and missions. Also, they took the
Quiz “Know Your Rights,” toexamine their knowledge andunderstanding on human rights
issues.

The Mini UN activity offered theopportunity to develop importantleadership skills such as public
speaking, team and consensus
building,
negotiation
andresearch.
Students demonstrated the ability
toexchange
information,questions and ideas while
recognizing the perspective ofothers.

Study Tour to Human Rights
Organizations:
On the occasion of theInternational Human Rights Day,
some teachers organized a study
tour to human rights nongovernmentalorganizations(NGOs) such as Save theChildren, The Center for Child
Rights and Amnesty International
Mongolia. The purpose of the tour
was to be acquainted with vision,
mission, goal, and activities ofthese organizations and bringthem closer to the students.

As main results, a total of four
hundred ninety-five students
became more knowledgeable on
civil society work for human rights
issues at global and national
levels. Also, ten students out of
sixteen, who visited AI Mongolia
joined it as young members.

A group of three students and twoteachers
attendedtheInternational
Students
Conference organized by VilliersHigh School in London (United
Kingdom) in October 2009 fortheir experience sharing andexternal relationships.

The conference was beneficial
among the school community
members in showing examples ofraising a voice at the international
level. This practice demonstrated
that the school could work
effectively by developing wider
relationship with the schoolcommunity.

78

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Main objectives:

Implemented activities:

Reflections:

Moreover there were a number ofactivities held among the students
in partnership with the local
community. These activities weremainly information session byprofessionals on topics like;- “The harmful effects of drugs”- “Safe Traffic Rules”- “Crime prevention of Juveniles”- “How to choose a career”

Based on the experience of implementing
these activities, the school obtained anumber of advantages compared with nontarget schools. The students’ involvement in
the discussion of the school policy, mission
and rules and procedures built trust and afriendly environment between teachers ands t u d e n t s a n d m o t i v a te d s t u d e n t s toimplement their rules that they approved
themselves. Majority of school staﬀ andteachers are now well aware about theimportance of participation of all membersof the school community and democraticelection for class leaders, student council
members and others. The school alsocelebrated World Teachers Day in 5 October
2009 under the global slogan “Invest on theteachers now.” During the event, teachers
expressed that participating in the Human
Rights Friendly School Project is a one of
the great investments for the teachers’
professional development on rights-based
education, one of the main goals of
education reform of Mongolia.

of achieving a more harmonized andpeaceful society. At the end, AI Mongolia
sees the Human Rights Friendly Schools
project as an opportunity to make humanr i g h t s e d u c a t i o n a n i n te g r a l p a r t o f
Mongolian education systems. A projectmonitoring and evaluation plan will be
implemented with the stakeholders toensure that project successes, challenges,
lessons learned and human rights impact arecollated and disseminated.
A Child-friendly School (CFS)The child-friendly schools (CFS) program in
Mongolia is designed to address thecountry’s challenges in basic and secondary
education. The first step of the “Childfriendly school” initiative in Mongolia was
U N I C E F ’s p r o j e c t t i t l e d “ Pr i m a r y
Education and Community Participation”
which was implemented during the
1999-2002 period. Thirty-five schools from
fifteen provinces were involved in thisproject. The activities under this project
mainly focused on enhancing teachers andparents’ knowledge and attitude on humanr i g h t s e d u c a t i o n a n d p r o m o te e q u a lopportunities at school activities. Also, thepilot schools had school self-assessment andimplemented their respective school
development plans for child-friendly schools.

Responding to the imperatives of the United
Nations World Programme for Human
Rights Education, the project seeks to
p r o m o te a h o l i s t i c a p p r o a c h to t h e
integration of human rights education into
school systems. The principles of humanrights can give schools a shared language ofequality, dignity, respect, non-discriminationand participation that is crucial to the goal
79

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

With technical assistance from UNICEF,
the MECS is currently implementing the
CFS approach in two pilot schools in
Ulaanbaatar city. These pilot schools are“Bolovsrol" complex school at Baganuur
District, and School #13 at Bayangol district.
These pilot schools follow participatory
teaching methodologies and train teachers
on using them eﬀectively. Priority is given tobuilding the lifeskills of students, promoting
child rights through classroom dynamics andchildren’s participation, and addressing
issues of school safety and protective
environments for children. According to thenational policy on CFS, these pilot schools
should establish child-friendly management
based on the following steps:

with and strengthen families, helping
children, parents and teachers toestablish collaborative partnerships.25
Most of these characteristics have been
incorporated as core principles of CFS pilot
schools in their management and daily life.
The CFS project was reviewed in November
2008 co vering the two pilot schools
Bolovsrol complex school and School 13 in
Ulaanbaatar city and non-pilot schools in
Zavkhan, Bayan-ulgii, Dundgovi, Dornod,
and Sukhbaatar provinces. A total of one
hundred seventy students, one hundred
thirty three parents and ninety six teachers
participated in this comparative study. This
review concluded that the CFS program inpilot schools significantly enhanced teacher
skil ls. Teacher performance wa s also
monitored and evaluated with tools thatmeet CFS evaluation and school assessment.
In addition, trust and mutual understanding
between teachers and children led to
improved overall performance.

1. Conduct school self-assessment
2. Develop a mid-term or yearly-basis
development plan for the school basedon the assessment
3. Implement the plan of action based onmeaningful participation by students
and school community members

The review has mainly positive results in the
CFS pilot schools. Students have the chance
to get information from a wide range ofsources and have opportunities to develop
their social competencies. The schools
support parents’ participation indecisionmaking on school policies andactivities, encourage them to take an active
interest in school management, and ask
them to take part in the learning experienceof their children. For example, parents havebeen informed of extracurricular activities.
They have also expressed great satisfaction
with the CFS approach, noting the increased
interest of their children in learning.

4. Emphasize the meaningful participationo f a l l s t a ke h o l d e r s i n s c h o o lmanagement activities by theManagement Team.
According to one educator, a rights-based
approach to schooling aspires to:- Recognize the rights of every child- Promote quality learning outcomes.
Students are encoura ged to thinkcritically, ask questions, express theiropinions, and master basic skills- Pr o m o t e s t u d e n t r i g h t s a n d
responsibilities within the school
environment as well as activism within
their community at large

Interviews held under the review show thechange in the behavior and attitudes ofvarious school community members on thethree main areas of child-friendly schools.

- Enhance teacher capacity, morale,commitment and status by ensuring thatthe teachers have suﬃcient training,
recognition and compensation- Fo c u s o n t h e f a m i l y b y s c h o o ladministrators by attempting to work80

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

Interview with a school principal:

Interview with representatives of teachers:

SchoolAll
stakeholders
shouldmanagement participate in school evaluationand identify weak or non-childfriendly points in their schools.
The main outcomes of the selfassessment should be the basisof a school development plan. All
stakeholders should make efforts
to implement the plan. School
regulations and rules should be
developed based on humanrights principles.

SchoolSchool should provide adequate
management conditionfor
student
organizations to conduct theiractivities.

Student
discipline

Students should have the attitude
that “our school misses me.”Teachers do not punish students
who are late. Instead ofpunishment, teachers should
know the reasons why they arelate.

Teaching
practice

Teachers do not present
themselves as very powerfulpersons. If they do so, they may
forget their students. Putting
equipments
insidetheclassrooms is intended to provide
direct services for their learningand development.

Student
discipline

Students should help each otherat the school.

Teaching
practice

Teachers should communicate
with students in a friendly
manner and guide their activities.

Te a c h e r s a n d s c h o o l a d m i n i s t r a to r s ’attitudes toward students, school
management, and teaching and learningchanged positively in the following ways:
T h e y a g r e e t h a t s c h o o l a n d te a c h e revaluation should consider the students’voices and participation. They agree thatstudent involvement in any evaluation
process should be a routine school activity.
Interview with representatives of students:
SchoolSchool environment should bemanagement improved based on what thestudents want.

School administrators pay attention toproviding healthy and safe school
environment. The school community helps
renovate the school facilities (classrooms
and laboratories) and establish centers forteacher and student development withfinancial support from parents, local donors,
and professional organizations. Drinking
water facilities are placed in the hallways ofthe school. Recreational and sport area
created and equipped in the school yard.
Student registration and information systemis created and student privacy is protected.

Student
discipline

Students should help and support
each other. It is important for
students to be friendly with eachother.

Teaching
practice

Teachers
shouldfacilitate
students’ activities and theyshould talk freely with students.

The students’ attitudes also changed
positively. They respect and support eachother. Their communication with the schoolcommunity has become friendly and polite.
Students have opportunities to develop theirabilities by participating in activities ofchild-led organizations and clubs. They can81

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

express their opinion freely and spend timewith their teachers. Finally, the involvementof parents in decisionmaking and school
activities ha s impro ved and they are
motivated to support their children’s
learning as well as school activities.

- Develop guidelines/recommendations
on distinctive features of child-friendly
schools and dormitories that show theiradvantages compared to regular schools
and dormitories- Develop alternative funding modalities
f o r s t u d e n t- l e d o r g a n i z a t i o n s toimplement their activities.

One of the distinctive features of theMongolian child-friendly pilot schools is theexistence of student-led activities supportedby the school principal and teacherf a c i l i t a to r s . “A c h i l d - f r i e n d l y s c h o o lrecognizes the importance of children’s ideas
and feedbacks and encourages them tocontribute to their own learning processes
and school environment,” says Ms. D.
Erdenechimeg, a Principal of a CFS in
Mongolia. In other words, the key to thechild friendly school’s management isgenuine and meaningful participation of
student-led organizations in the school
management. There are over ten student-led
organizations that are currently very activeat the schools. The child-led organizations
conduct their activities at the Student
Development Center that the school
management established.

At the local level:- Strengthen the implementation of the
CFS policy at the local level by
disseminating the best practices ofchild-friendly pilot schools- Develop and implement a local level
policy and action plan on thedevelopment of CFS and establish anassessment system for theirimplementation.
At the school level:- Support the increasing involvement of
the community in the implementationof CFS initiatives- Establish a database for analyzing school
self-assessment findings to reflect themin further school development plans.

The review concluded that as a result of the
CFS project, the MECS and the generalpublic have a better understanding of thechild-friendly school concept. There is acontinued need to extend the coverage ofthe policy implementation and scale up
child-friendly schools nationwide. In thisregard, the review provided the following
recommendations at the national, local, andschool levels for further improvement of
CFS initiative:

Ba sed on the positive results of theevaluation, the CFS covera ge will be
expanded to cover roughly 10 percent of thes c h o o l s i n t h e c o u n t r y. In o r d e r t odisseminate child-friendly school initiatives,
UNICEF and MECS have jointly developednine CFS training modules, which aredesigned to support CFS activities, school
administrators, teachers and students. The
training modules are used for training
activities for CFS participants:

At the national level:- Revise the CFS assessment indicatorsand questionnaires and provide
guidelines for conducting assessmentu s i n g t h e r e v i s e d i n d i c a to r s a n dquestionnaires• Module 1: School self-assessment tools• Module 2: Designing a school
development plan
• Module 3: CFS management
information system- Establish a mechanism to support local
initiatives on child-friendly schools• Module 4: Promoting sociopsychological school environment82

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems• Module 5: Child-centered teaching
methods

In 2008, the youth movement organized aFreedom Parade, Human Rights Festival anda Human Poster Walk-About to spreadawareness of human rights and freedoms,
especially freedom of expression, andgender-based violence among the public. All
activities were highly visual including facepainting, fun decorations (including a big
paper cake for the 60th anniversary of the
Universal Human Rights Declaration), selfdecorated T-shirts with human rights
messages, self-made banners and posters.
Events featured popular singers and artists,
dance competitions, quiz contests and otheractivities. These campaign activities allowed
an opportunity for young people and others
to express themselves freely and creatively
and enjoy their right to free expression
boldly and creatively.

• Module 6: Partnership development
among school, parents, and community• Module 7: Livelihood knowledge and life
skills• Module 8: Inclusive education• Module 9: Violence free school.
Also, the stakeholders collaborate withmedia partners and other NGOs. The OpenSchool newspaper and Tsokh children’s
newspaper actively organized CFS-related
activities such as promoting childparticipation in the development of CFS,
supporting initiatives of student
organizations, and clarifying students’ duties
and responsibilities at the school.

One of the good features of the campaign isthe creation of a “national hero” (role model)of human rights named Erkhuulei by the
youths. Erkhuulei is a national super-hero
who has super powers to develop each child’sand each adult’s ability to understand,respect and defend human rights andfreedoms of oneself and others. This nongender-specific perpetual child with superabilities was created to popularize the spiritof the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and promote human rights educationof children.

Youth initiative: “Erkhuulei” as a human rights
defender and super-hero for children
The “Hands Up 4 Your Rights!” is a youth
movement that is very active in the humanrights education field in Mongolia. It was
initiated and led by the “Let’s Develop”
Yo u t h C l u b a n d Yo u t h Gr o u p o f A I
Mo n g o l i aandsupportedbyMONFEMNET (Mongolian Women’sNGOs Network). The “Hands Up 4 Your
Rights!” youth campaign is intended as a fun,dynamic and participatory mechanism tosupport young people’s empowerment andactivism for human rights, gender justice anddemocracy in Mongolia. The campaign
strategy is the marketing of human rights ina fun, accessible, creative and positive
fashion, focusing specifically on youth, using
peer training and fun public activities as wellas media.

The name Erkhuulei comes f rom theMongolian word(erkh is the Mongolian
word for right) and(erkh chuluu isthe Mongolian word for freedom).
Erkhuulei’s character was born at the first
Training of Trainers (TOT) of the “Hands Up
4 Your Rights!” campaign. Participants of the83Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

campaign developed a simple human rights
lesson plan, content and methodology forprimary and secondary school students. Sixty
young people were trained to be “Erkhuulei
trainers” and they conducted Erkhuulei’s
lessons at twenty-nine secondary schools of
Ulaanbaatar, reaching out to over one
thousand students in 2008. In March 2009,
two Erkhuulei trainers (two law schools t u d e n t s ) t r a v e l e d to D u n d g o v i a n d
Umnugovi aimags and taught about humanrights to over one thousand secondary
school students. Again, “Hands Up 4 Your
Rights!” campaign participants created a
comic book to introduce Erkhuulei to theirpeers and friends. The talent and dedicationof a young artist (Ts. Delgerjargal) helped
breathe life into Erkhuulei. The comic books
were widely distributed during Erkhuulei’s
human rights lessons at various schools in
Ulaanbaatar and Dundgovi and Umnugovi
aimags as well as through informal networks.

on specific human rights and gender equality
issues.
Challenges
A number of factors have contributed to theongoing problems of human rights educationin Mongolian educational settings. Thesediﬃculties can be categorized into diﬀerent
areas:
a. Lack of teaching practices and supportive
teachers’ attitude
The main findings of evaluations and studies
on the Mongolian educational quality andachievements show that schools at present
pay more attention to the improvement of
their physical environment and upgrading of
the qualifications of their teachers and staﬀ.
Ho w e v e r, i n r e a l i t y, s o m e n e g a t i v ephenomenons are still observed such as
discrimination against children based on
their academic performance, failure toprovide equal access to each and every child,and lack of human rights -f riendl y or
supportive atmosphere inside classrooms
and schools. The evaluation of human rights
education in secondar y schools (2006,
N H RC M ) i d e n t i f i e d t h e f o l l o w i n gweaknesses:“Hands Up 4 Your Rights!” TOT (one andhalf to two days) and peer training (one day)workshops are important components of thecampaign. The training programs includesections on human rights, civics, genderequality and the nature of patriarchy, andcreative campaigning for social change. All
sections are highly interactive and include
roleplay and group work and incorporatecollective analyses. In 2008, the campaign
trained over a hundred young people and,
under the support from the Australian
Agency for International Development(AUSAID), held four TOT workshops andtwelve peer training workshops in 2009. Fun
activities such as drawing and creating one’s
own campaign T-shirt are included in theseworkshops. As they participate in thedevelopment of the training content andmethodology, the youth develop skills on
research, analysis, teamwork, facilitation,
coordination, and training as well as skills on
listening, speaking, and problem-solving. In
addition, they learn to hold press conferences, plan public events, and street
actions to focus public and media attention• Significant diﬀerence in teaching humanrights as a compulsory and an optionalcourse• Failure of training managers to maintainregular supervision over the education
standards and plans• No significant professional support toteachers in terms of content andmethodology on human rights education• Lack of teachers and high turn over ofteachers who are specialized in social
sciences and citizenship.
It i s i m p o r t a n t t o u n d e r s t a n d t h eimportance of teaching human rights as anindependent subject and to integrate it into
existing school curriculums. But teaching84

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

human rights and citizenship at the primaryand secondary levels is still teacher-centeredand characterized by passive and rotelearning. There are also lack of experienced
teachers and managers who are able to use
rights-based approach to education in termsof teaching methodology and pedagogy.
These studies reported that the main causesof the negative approaches are poor humanrights education practices and lack ofteaching skills to promote mutual
understanding, respectful and safe
environment inside their classrooms.

c. Lack of coordination between stakeholders andsystematic support %om government
One of the major challenges is the lack ofcollaboration and networking of relevant
stakeholders in the human rights education
field. For example, in accordance with
Article 1.1.26 of the NHRAP, the SubProgramme on Human Rights Education
aims to create a national mechanism tosuppor t human rights education andpromotion and training of trainers in all
sectors. Unfortunately, this ambiguous goal
has not been implemented up to date. In thiscontext, partnership and collaboration are
also still lacking between the relevant
stakeholders.

b. Lack of teaching materials and supportive school
environment
Many Mongolian schools do not have“learning-friendly” environments. “Learningfriendly” environments are often
misunderstood to refer only to the physicalenvironment. 26 Students still experiencebullying, and corporal punishment fromtheir teachers. 27 An enabling learning
environment can be achieved by building
self-awareness, developing artistic capacities
and creative thinking, strengthening ethics,
and instilling social and aesthetic values.
Such development should be provided to all
children, including those with disabilities
and from minority groups.

Mongolia still has no stand-alone humanrights education policy or conceptual
framework. The failure to develop the SubProgramme on Human Rights Educationshows that there is a strong need to create anational human rights education and training
system and its monitoring and evaluation
mechanism. And for the rest, there is a lackof well-thought, planned policy or systematicinterventions, which will promote social
relationships, mutual understanding and highrespect between teachers-students-parentspublic, and make schools supportive andchild-friendly spaces for children’s learning,development and participation.

Due to the lack of resources, the physicalenvironment of schools cannot meet therights of children to study in healthy and safe
environment, and to access adequate training
materials and teachers. Curriculums andteaching methods are often not relevant to
the life-skill and basic issues challenging thestudents. Sometimes, the human rights
education curriculum itself does notconform to the realities and needs ofdiﬀerent communities. Most of the teachingmaterials are translated from other languages
and cultures. Therefore, the lack of books
and instructional materials on human rights
and civic education written in Mongolian
language and context provides diﬃculty forteachers.

d. The lack of opportunity to network between
schools and educational partners
Another major problem related to thecurrent educational structure is the need todevelopmore
horizontal
andmultidirectional channels of communication
across the country. At present, there is no
system of direct communication between theschools (especially in rural areas) and othereducational partners. It is likely that many ofNGOs do not reach into rural areas andcould not create networks in aimag or soum(rural district) levels. Therefore, large-scale
human rights education campaigns in rural
areas are not yet possible.
85

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

Evaluation and Review of Human
Rights Educationi n p r o g r e s s i n g a n d co o r d i n a t i n g
education about and for human rights.
2. Develop, approve and publish a clear,
precise vision statement for rightsbased education and education about
and for human rights. This visionstatement should describe the essential
elements of the initiative.
3. Because of the need to meet national
goals, guarantee teaching and learning
about rights and responsibilities for atleast one quarter of the course at alllevels, and about priorities andobligations relating to human rights in
the Civics and Citizenship course
w i t h i n t h e Mo n g o l i a n s c h o o lcurriculum.
4. Make an audit or curriculum mappingof the Civics and Citizenship course
during the Third Education
Development Project period in order to
identify the extent (hours by grade) andfocuses of the human rights component(knowledge, skills, attitudes).
5. Make an audit or curriculum mappingof education about and for humanrights across learning areas and stagesof schooling during the Third
Education Development Project period.
This audit should identify the coreknowledge, skills, values andparticipator y aspects of education
about and for human rights.
6. Undertake an audit of the Non-Formaland Adult Education programs toidentify training about lifeskills related
to human rights. If there is insuﬃcienttraining related to the development ofthese skills, these should be developed.
7. D e v e l o p w i t h i n p u t f r o m ke y
stakeholders in Mongolia a detailed
cross-curriculum ‘Statement’ about
education about and for human rights,
and have it published and distributed.
8. Make a range of stakeholders accept the
responsibility of adapting, developing
and providing educational resources

Currently, there is no specific research or
study that look into the incorporation ofhuman-rights based approaches into the
Mongolian educational system or even into
the human rights environment in schools. Aninternational evaluation of the best practices
in rights-based education 28 provides theneeded analysis of the situation in Mongolia.
This external evaluation covered Mongolia’s
UNICEF countr y program and theimplementation of the Government
Education Master Plan. It has the following
specific objectives:
1. Review the existing ‘Children’s Rights
Education Syllabus’ for fourth-year preservice education students, developedb y s t a f f a t t h e Mo n g o l i a n S t a t e
University of Education (MSUE) and to
make recommendations on how thecourse could become more complex,
comprehensive and accurate.
2. Conduct training of the members of the
MSUE curriculum development team oninternational principles of child rights
education in primary and secondary
schools.
3. Develop a report and recommendations
about rights -based education andeducation about and for human rights
programs; and, that this advice would
cover curriculum content, education
resources and implementation.
Based on the review of the policy andc u r r i c u l u m d o c u m e n t s , t h e e x te r n a levaluation recommended that education forand about human rights should be a priority
for all parts of the Mongolian Education
System (Pre-school, Primary and Secondary,Non-formal and adult, TVET, and Higher
Education). Following are the specificrecommendations oﬀered:29
1. Establish a Project Reference Group(for the CFS project) that includes
representative stakeholders interested
86

Human Rights Education in Northeast Asian School Systems

about and for human rights for children
and young people.
9. MECS should advise stakeholders of
those areas and topics within the
curriculum relating to human rightsthat require support through thedevelopment of educational resources.
10. Identify and agree through consensus
the key human rights and child rights
issues. Develop educational resourcesthat sensitively and appropriately
explore these issues for children andyoung people in Mongolian schools.
Fe a t u r e i n t h e s e r e s o u r c e s t h econnections between local, national andinternational aspects of these issues.
11. House at MECS or at the NHRCM andmake available to resource developers asmodels a repository of internationallydeveloped, exemplar y educational
resources about and for human rights.
12. Identify, coordinate and promote
existing and planned training bystakeholders of education about and forhuman rights or child rights. Develop
new professional learning to support
education about and for human rights
both within the formal curriculum andalso with a cross-curriculum emphasis.
13. Revise the current ‘Children’s Rights
Education Syllabus’ developed by the
MSUE and make it a model that can beused at other universities, colleges andteacher-training institutions.
14. Establish a website with sections forteachers and students, including ageappropriate information and advice
about and for human rights. This
website may be part of an existing
website. The website must be easily
discoverable by Mongolian students andteachers.
15. S u c h w e b s i t e s h o u l d p r o v i d eopportunities for educators to connect
with their peers across Mongolia, and to
exchange ideas and practices that best
support education about and for humanrights/child rights.

16. MECS should investigate the potentialof online student global projects toconnect Mongolian students with theirpeers in other countries.
Conclusion
The current emphasis in international
educational policies and cooperation on
institutionalization of human rights
education in the school system of Mongolia
would have strategic significance in thenational development policy. Mongolia has
many initiatives in the formal and nonformal education system that can be seen as
good examples of human rights education.
National research findings on human rights
and democracy clearly indicate that humanrights education would be a valuable
component of general education for the
public. All these findings indicate the needfor more eﬀective and integrated humanrights education programs. To solve theabove-mentioned problems, the Mongolian
education system needs to develop complex
educational programs on human rights
education. Therefore, it is recommended
that a comprehensive Conceptual
Framework be developed that will provide atheoretical and practical framework for theteaching of human rights at Mongolian
schools. This conceptual framework would
provide an educational rationale, the aims of
the innovation, recommended learningemphases or themes; and advice about
appropriate teaching and learning,
curriculum resources, professional learning,
how to engage parents and the community,and pre-service education.
In order to improve the quality of humanrights education in secondary schools, it isimportant to re-train the teachers, improve
the training facilities, upgrade training
management and create the human rights
environment in schools. Assistance of the
UN and other international donororganizations is highly needed for the
integration of human rights education into
87

Human Rights Education in Mongolian Schools

the Mongolian formal education system
considering the lack of resources faced by
the country.

National Human Rights Commission ofMongolia, 19/1, 2007.
______________ , “Human Rights Education
and
Civic
participationin
Mongolia” (paper presented at theinternational roundtable on “Role ofResearch in Modernizing Teaching andHu m a n i t i e s i n C e n t r a l A s i a a n d
Mo n g o l i a ” , B i s h ke k , Ky r g y z s t a n ,October 2003) .

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M E C S & U N I C E F, S t u d y o n s c h o o ldormitories, Mongolia, 2007.
20 Rober t Baker, Report on Rights-based
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22 Flowers. N. & Shiman. D., page 162.
23 Human Rights Education in Formal
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approach to schooling”. See her article“School- based approach to Human Rights
Education” in Journal of Article 26, October,2005 Amnesty International U.S.A., page 2.
26 The amendments to the Education Law of2006 stipulate that a “learning
environment” refers not only to the physicalenvironment but also to teaching andlearning interactions and processes.
27 There is much literature indicating the lackof enabling, child friendly environments in
Mongolia, such as Mongolian Education
Alliance, The Mongolian Drop Out Study(Ulaanbaatar, 2005); Save the Children UK,
Children on the Move: Rural-urban Migration
and Access to Education, Children’s Views on
Their Experiences in Kindergartens, Schools andChild Care Institutions (Ulaanbaatar, 2005).
28 The UNICEF Oﬃce of Mongolia requested
an international consultant (Mr. Robert
Baker of CC International, Australia) in2007 to advise the MECS and MSUE about
international best practices in rights-based
education, particularly related to the rightsof the child.
29 These recommendations are based on theset of recommendations included in thereport of Robert Baker, op. cit., pages 8-10.
19

Re c o m m e n d a t i o n s Fo r Pr i m a r y A n d
Secondary School Teacher Training For
Hu m a n
Rights
Educationw w w. h r u s a . o r g / w o r k s h o p s /hreworkshops/usa.html
Endnotes
The State Great Hural (Parliament ofMongolia). The State Education Policy
Ulaanbaatar, 1995.
2 Master Plan for Education (2006-2011) was
endorsed by the Ministry of Education,
Culture and Sciences in 2006.
3
The National Development Strategy based on theMi)ennium Development Goals (2007) was
endorsed by the Parliament of Mongolia in
2007.
4 Annex to Resolution number 41, 2003 of
the State Great Hural.
5
Ibid, paragraph 11.
6 Article 1, NHRAP.
7 Articles 1 and 2, NHRAP.
8 National Programme of Action for Development
and Protection of Children, (2002) was
endorsed by the Parliament of Mongolia in
2002.
9 Masterplan to Develop Education of Mongolia,(2006) wa s endorsed by Minister of
Education, Culture and Science.
10 Master Plan of Education in Mongolia 2006-2015, pages xx–xxiii.
11 Ibid, Chapter 4: Mid-term Action Plan
2006–2010.
12 Ibid, Chapter 4, Section 4.2.
13 The Policy Framework for Promotion of Child
Friendly Schools (2004) was approved by the
M in is ter of Ed u ca tion, Culture andSciences.
14 Decree 190 of the Education Minister, May
2004.
15 Amgaabazar, Gerelmaa. 2005. World Bank
Dra+ Policy Brief on the Mongolian Drop Out
Rate (unpublished)
16 Statistics Bu)etin of the Education Sector,
2009-2010 Academic year. Ulaanbaatar,
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science,
2010.
17 Human Development Report Mongolia, 2007.
18 MECS & UNICEF, Research report on violenceagainst children at schools and kindergartens,
Mongolia, 2007.
189