Project News

In the previous project news, we introduced a model of developmental support that is being tested and proposed in the project. The Project has completed in July 2019. In this project news, the project experts who have engaged in activities in Mongolia for four years share with you their thoughts.

After four years of this project, I realized once again that in Mongolia, what was tried through the pilot activities became a system. For example, the improved individualized educational plan was approved by the Minister of Education and decided to be used throughout the country during the project implementation. By the "Approval of regulations to ensure inclusive education at regular schools for children with disabilities" which was endorsed at the end of the project, "School Enrollment Meeting" and "School Committee" were institutionalized. The technical cooperation project is to construct a model, not to provide visible buildings and equipment to the Mongolian side like a grant aid project. However, we are pleased to have created something that can be left as a system.

Team Leader, Tetsuya Ishii

It was the beginning of everything. I visited a small house located in the ger district in Ulaanbaatar to meet a mother and a girl in November 2013 as a member of the JICA Data Collection Survey on Special Needs Education. The girl living with severe disabilities sat on a bed all day long. Her mother told me that she felt so sad because her daughter was growing and too heavy to be carried for the outing. I was shocked by what the mother said since I believed all mothers feel happy when their child grows. I engaged in the project to create opportunities for such children to go to school and to make those mothers joy in a child's growth.

Through four-year-activities of the project, the system for early childhood development and education for children with disabilities was established, and the direction of inclusive education was created in Mongolia. Those changes open up possibilities for the children to live in a local community with necessary support and go to mainstream schools. However, there are still many children who cannot go out of their homes. I wish governmental and non-governmental organizations, development partners, and all citizens to continue to work for an inclusive society.

Deputy Team Leader, Sayaka Suzuki