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Mongolia
The
issue of street children in Mongolia emerged amidst the social confusion that
followed the collapse of the socialist economy. The situation is said to have
improved somewhat, due to support from international NGOs, however, in the urban
areas, there is an unrelenting influx of people from rural areas, unemployment
rates remain high, and poverty is growing. There are families living on the streets
and children wandering from one support facility to the next. The collapse of
the economy has meant the Mongolian Government is unable to support these socially
vulnerable children and families.
In response
to this situation, Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) has operated refuges in Ulaanbaatar
for street children and the children of poor families, under the name gKhot
Ailh since 1997. In FY2004, a total of 72 children lived in two Khot Ails
while attending schools and vocational training facilities. In addition, social
workers are investigating the situations of the children's families and supporting
them so that they can return to their families.
In Mongolia, poverty and poor family environments are preventing many children
from attending schools. Furthermore, in order for child drop-outs to return to
school, they must take supplementary classes and pass an examination for admission
as a transfer student. PWJ has conducted non-formal primary education classes
in four localities, including the so-called ggarbage hillh , an impoverished
district in the city of Erdenet. In Ulaanbaatar, PWJ conducted non-formal education
classes for children who were hospitalized for long periods in the tuberculosis
ward of the National Research Center for Infectious Disease.
In FY2004,
in addition to support in the urban areas, PWJ also endeavored to alleviate regional
disparities by providing support to rural areas. It distributed 30 mimeographs
to a total of 16 schools with little or no electricity in Omnogovi Province and
Dundgovi Province in southern Mongolia, and trained teachers to use them. Until
now, in schools without copying machines or with copying machines but no electricity,
teachers could not create distributable teaching materials such as homework or
test papers, which hindered children's ability to learn.
Use of mimeographs means that teaching materials can easily be created for subjects
such as Mongolian language, arithmetic, art, and traditional Mongolian characters
(written vertically), with further unlimited applications possible. At the same
time, the psychological counseling activity
that had been conducted by PWJ in a juvenile reformatory center in Ulaanbaatar
was transferred to the Ministry of Justice of Mongolia at the end of 2004. From
now on, the counseling activities, which have been highly praised for their great
effectiveness in the social rehabilitation of juveniles, will be conducted by
the government. |
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