Teachers Forum
September, 2000

This interview was conducted in person
by Oyunsaihan Dendevnorov Project Officer
Education, UNICEF Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Answer: My name is Ayzbai Nurjamal and I am a Kazakh. I have been teaching for 23 years at the 8-year school of Bugat sum in Bayan-Ulgi province in western Mongolia. I am a mother of six children. I graduated many years ago from the Teacher’s Training College in Arhangai province of Mongolia.

Bayan-Ulgi is the place where I was born and grew up. It is 1,700 km west of the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. There are many people in our province who have never visited the capital city. It takes 2-3 days overland to reach Bayan-Ulgii from Ulaanbaatar, or you can reach the province via twice-weekly (and expensive) flights. A one-way airticket is almost equal to a month’s salary for teachers. Bayan-Ulgi is the only province of Mongolia that is predominantly Kazakh. We are a minority nationality in Mongolia with a different language and religion (Islam) from the majority.

Our school is a typical provincial subdistrict school with 22 teachers and 360 children. Children come to school from different remote places. Some stay in dormitory, others come to school on horseback. All subjects in our school are taught in the Kazakh language.

A: Despite the isolation and remoteness from the provincial centre, teachers are very committed to their work at the school. Teaching is a job respected by others. I teach in the fourth grade. I am proud to have many students.

There is one common concern and challenge in educating Kazakh children. That is that the education curricula and textbooks are not of the same standard as Mongolian-language national editions. Kazakh children are falling behind in academic achievement and have difficulty passing University and college entrance exams. Due to the language problem, Kazakh children cannot enjoy the same quality of education as other children in Mongolia. There is lack of schooling materials and textbooks. Poor infrastructure (e.g. unpaved roads, poorly developed communication networks, and limited access to information), remoteness, and minority status are obstacles to the provision of quality education and other services in our province.

A: I am currently attending a workshop organized by UNICEF and the School of Education Development. The main objective of the workshop is to develop the professional capacity of primary teachers in child-centred and integrated teaching methods. There are about 40 Kazakh teachers attending this workshop from different parts of our province. By attending this workshop I've learned a lot: how to apply active learning child-centred teaching methods in our work, and differences between Kazakh and Mongolian textbooks. The neighbouring Republic of Kazakhstan supplies most of the textbooks that we use. The Kazakhstan education system has 11 years of primary and secondary school education, whereas Mongolia has only 10 years (1-4 grades of primary, 5-8 middle secondary, 9-10 upper secondary) of schooling. At the workshop we have been discussing the acute need to introduce bilingual education programmes in Bayan-Ulgi to help Kazakh children obtain a high-quality education and be on a par with other children in Mongolia. We are very happy with UNICEF support to our education development, which has included the child-friendly school initiative in two selected schools in Bayan-Ulgi. I wish to have more information about teachers around the world so that we might all share our concerns and experiences.

A: The holiday Nauriz Kozhe is a celebration of the Islamic New Year that takes place every March. People greet each other with special New Year’s greetings and prepare special foods, such as kaz (a salty sausage made from horse meat) and special meat and flour soups.

Each year at Nauriz Kozhe we have a festival that includes a variety of games and other cultural activities. Among these are ox lifting–the strongest men see if they are able to lift an ox off the ground–and a game where herdsmen must try to grab a coin from the ground while riding a horse.

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