The Ministry of Education held a meeting with representatives from the "Educational Growth" Association of Private Kindergartens to discuss public-private partnerships, preschool education quality, and operational challenges. Currently, 353 private kindergartens serve over 27,600 children across the country.
However, data from the past five years indicates a decline of 128 in the number of private kindergartens and a decrease of 4,984 in the number of enrolled children.
During the meeting, the Ministry and the Association reviewed the success of past collaborations, including the abolition of the kindergarten admission lottery system, which helped raise the national preschool enrollment rate to 96%.
KEY DISCUSSION POINTS AND INITIATIVES
To build on this progress and address current sector challenges, the following areas of cooperation were established:
- Prioritize the overall quality of preschool education.
- Collaborate on upskilling and empowering special education teachers in the preschool sector.
- Expand the enrollment rate for 5-year-old children from 96% to 100% by actively involving private kindergartens.
- Collaborate on training and upskilling specialized preschool educators, with a specific focus on speech-language pathologists.
- Incorporate the Association's recommendations when revising the variable cost allocation system.
- Address the negative impacts of rising goods prices and increased teacher salaries on the operations of private kindergartens.
- Work toward increasing the variable cost allocation per student for private kindergartens.
- Co-organize a business conference for preschool education institutions.
- Sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Association to elevate public-private partnerships to a new level.
- Facilitate private kindergartens to take a leading role in the "Compound Elementary School" project.
The Ministry expressed its full support for these initiatives to ensure the continued growth and accessibility of early childhood education in Mongolia.
