Project News

December 3rd was "International Day of Persons with Disabilities".

MECSS (Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports), MLSP (Ministry of Labor and Social Protection), and JICA Project Team organized an Art contest in Ulaanbaatar for children with disabilities (CDWs) to provide them with opportunities to demonstrate their great talent.

The theme of the contest was "My world" and CWDs expressed their world in drawings. A total of 143 paintings passed the first-stage of selection by the Local Commissions of Health, Education and Social Protection for CWDs (Local Commission) or special schools. These were submitted to JICA Project Team. In the second-stage, the selection committee consisted of four members (MECSS, MLSP, an art expert, and JICA Project Team) who selected 12 paintings for a Special Jury Prize.

The awarding ceremony was held in MECSS on November 26th and about 50 people including awardees, their families, Local Commissions and special schools participated. 12 awardees were honored with certificates and prize. A fifth grade student with a visual impairment performed an amazing song of celebration.

The 143 paintings were displayed at MECSS, MLSP and Shangri-La Mall from November 29th to December 13th. In Shangri-La Mall, lots of citizens saw the paintings and appreciated them. Some wrote comments in the notebook placed by Project Team for visitors. Examples: "I was impressed with the children's art" and "These pieces remind me that I was also once a child".

The JICA Project Team published collections of their works as a pamphlet and a calendar and distributed them to the applicants, special schools, Local Commissions, central library, etc.

The student who received the first prize explained her painting as follows.

"I described my wish.

A wish where everyone, both people with disabilities and those without, could live life in their own way in the same society. A person using a wheelchair looks outside from the window and wants to feel the change of seasons as people without disabilities feel. This book is thick because I would like to describe this kind of thought on each page. I wish many people looked at my painting."