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Since 1992, the educational system has removed itself
from the Soviet influence, which began in the 1920s. The
country is trying to base its education on its ancient
traditions, while at the same time the Western influence is
evident. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Mongolia.
There is a 10-year compulsory school from the children
are 6 years to the age of 16. The school is divided into 6
years of primary school and 4 years of secondary school.
About. 89% of children attend school. Higher education in
engineering and vocational education is offered to young
people aged 16-18. The country has seven universities. The
State University of Ulan Bator was founded in 1942. Although
more than half of the population lives in porky areas or are
nomads, there are less than 2% illiterate people (2003).
Twenty years after the collapse of communism, economic
growth may well be registered in the country, but wealth is
not distributed and the gap between rich and poor is
deepened year by year. It is demonstrated and protested
almost daily against the government to have it implement
reforms, but without result. The migration from country to
city in search of better living conditions accelerates, but
without the farmers finding what they are looking for.
Almost half of the population lives below the poverty line.
On June 29, 2008, parliamentary elections were held. The
vote counted the day after a clear lead for the ruling party
(MRF), and opposition coalition Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj
immediately accused the government of electoral fraud. The
day after, he declared that his coalition would not
recognize the election result, and in the capital,
demonstrations erupted. Protesters attacked MRF headquarters
and set it on fire. During the day, 5 protesters were killed
and in the evening the country was put in 4 days of
emergency. When the official election results were announced
on July 14, 46 seats were added to the MRF, while
Elbegdorj's coalition had to settle for 27. In mid-August,
10 police officers who had shot protesters sharply on 1/2.
July arrested.
The opposition boycotted the months following the
parliamentary elections, but in mid-September a coalition
government was formed between the MRF and the opposition
coalition with Sanjaagiin Bayar as prime minister.
In May 2009, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj won the presidential
election as candidate for the Democratic Party with 51.1% of
the vote against the 47.4% of the incumbent president. He
thus became the first president who did not have membership
of the Mongol Revolutionary People's Party (the former
Communist Party) behind him. The authorities had feared
unrest the year before the parliamentary elections, but the
election was peaceful.
Elbegdorj's first official act was to draft an amnesty
law that released 300 people who were imprisoned after the
riots the year before. However, the president was up against
a parliament controlled by his political opponents in the
MRF, which diminished his potential for legislative
initiatives. In January 2010, he declared that he will
systematically pardon all the convicts in the future and
will work to change the maximum sentence to 30 years in
prison. He argued that most countries in the world have
already abolished the death penalty and that Mongolia should
do so as well. However, the MRF was opposed, so the country
has continued the death penalty. In January 2012, however,
it signed the Protocol on Social and Political Rights, which
was seen as an important step towards the final abolition of
the death sentence as a punishment in the country.
The 2008 economic crisis caused a sharp fall in world
metal prices and led to a corresponding drastic decline in
Mongolia's export revenue. But from 2010, the value of the
country's exports grew again significantly.
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