Mongolia to protect over 650,000 children
Mongolian government is to ban all forms of abuse and violence, including corporal punishment, in schools following intense campaigning from Save the Children.
Monday 18 December 2006
After a year's intense campaigning by Save the Children and other groups, the Mongolian government is to ban all forms of abuse and violence, including corporal punishment, in schools. Over 650,000 children will now be protected from the trauma of physical and emotional abuse that many have suffered in the classroom.
The first-ever code of conduct for teachers, which will hold teachers directly responsible for the emotional welfare of their students, will also be introduced next year. This will hope to eradicate corrupt practices that have kept thousands of children out of school, such as teachers imposing illegal fees on students and forcing them to buy educational materials.
The ground-breaking ruling in Mongolia will affect thousands of children who have been kept from going to school. For the first time ever the government will allocate budget to alternative education schemes, potentially reaching over 10,000 of out-of-school children in remote areas. The government will also now have to take the needs of children with disabilities into account when allocating its education budget.
Tungalag Chuluun, Save the Children's programme director in Mongolia:
"This is a tremendous step that will give thousands of children in Mongolia a better future. The damage inflicted by physical and emotional violence inflicts on children is horrifying. School must be a place where children are safe and nurtured. It's also a fundamental advance for Mongolia's most marginalised and impoverished children, thousands more of whom will be able to get to school."
It is only the third time in Mongolian history that campaigning groups have achieved law change in the country.
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