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The Federation of Mongolian Education and Science Unions(FMESU), EI’s national affiliate, has organised a joint meeting under the theme, “I have a message for the government”, at the Confederation of Mongolian Trade Unions’ level. The meeting was held in conjunction with the one-year EI Unite for Quality Education initiative.

During the EI campaign, FMESU will increase its efforts to campaign for improved salaries, work conditions and pension arrangements for teachers, secure better curricular support, and improve teachers’ professional development, as well as better school environments and facilities.

The union is pursuing these actions “because all of these elements contribute to better quality education”, said FMESU President Jakhar Batzorig.

2013 World Teachers’ Day

FMESU and its members celebrated World Teachers’ Day (WTD) on 5 October at the Trade Union Palace in Ulaanbaatar, where a meeting of 300 teachers and education workers, from pre-school to university, with students’ representatives, the Minister of Education, and invited officers from district and city education department was organised.

During this meeting, the Ministry of Education and Science announced a new regulation on teachers’ assessment – this was opposed by the FMESU. In addition, a FMESU/City Education Department joint working group on revision of the new regulation was established. This joint working group was FMESU’s main achievement linked to WTD celebrations.

There was also a national event across the media raising awareness about quality education. Batzorig was interviewed by several TV channels, such as TV 8, TV 5, Eagle TV, UB 5 and NBS. He stressed that quality of education is under attack in Mongolia due to the lack of education funding, schools and kindergartens.

Many diverse activities were held at school and kindergarten level, such as essay writing or drawing.

A debate including teachers, parents, students and policymakers on ways to support better provision of quality education was also organised.

EI: Welcome for activities by millions of educators

“I welcome the initiative of the Mongolian teachers who, like millions of other educators worldwide, are massively joining in our campaign for quality education,” commented EI General Secretary Fred van Leeuwen. “They are going on with or setting up activities aiming at ensuring that quality public education for all remains high on the post-2015 development agenda.”