Inclusive education, which ensures the right to education for all children, is an global core concept which will support equality in education sector. There are several different definitions and interpretations of inclusive education, however in this survey, research team used inclusive education as the education that enables all children specially focused on children with functional difficulties (CWFDs) to learn together with additional support for their individual needs. 

In Mongolia, the number of national and international programs have been implemented since 1990 in support of Inclusive Education. To contribute in this development chain, IRIM research team has conducted the survey under the ‘Support of Inclusive education in Mongolia” project which will be implemented between 2020-2024 under the non-repayable grant of ADB to support inclusive education in Mongolia.  

Main findings of the survey will assist the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports (MECSS) to improve legal and policy framework for ensuring access to education at all levels, specially focused in CWFDs. In order to reach the main goal, research team aimed to achieve the following objectives according to the Terms of Reference: 

• Examine the demographic, socio-economic, and sociocultural characteristics of kindergarten and school-aged CWFDs 

• Determine the nature, types and causes of child disabilities 

• Identify specific problems faced by CWFDs by type in receiving education at all levels for both children attending school and out-of- school CWFDs 

• Provide insights about coping mechanisms and needs of CWFDs by type in receiving education at all levels 

• Identify support needed in reducing challenges (social, economic, policy and infrastructure) 

• Identify services and measures for CWFDs by type to increase their chance of receiving education at all levels 

To identify educational needs of CWFDs, the research team identified (1st stage) the CWFDs aged between 2-17 at high risk of having disabilities, in the target areas and studied (2nd stage) the child’s educational experience and their individual needs. Based on the results of the desk review conducted in the inception phase, we employed international methodologies that promote human rights, tailoring them into the context of Mongolia inclusive education. The research team developed a methodology which is consistent with that of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) of National Statistical Office of Mongolia (NSO), so we could compare the socioeconomic and cultural results of the target households with NSO’s 2018 MICS data.  

The first stage of the survey which is screening covered the 9555 children aged 2 to 17 from 5328 households in target areas. In the second stage of the data collection, we covered the legal guardians of 865 children who screened from the first stage, or 9.1 percent of the children covered in the screening, who were identified to have functional difficulties. We collected data from 78.1 percent of the parents with  CWFDs.  

54 in-depth interviews were conducted in eight soums of Bayan-Ulgii, Bayankhongor, Orkhon, Selenge, Dornogobi, and Dornod provinces to include minorities and those in remote areas of the country, ensuring research inclusiveness.  

Details of the tasks done within the project include: 

• Developed the inception report including survey theoretical framework  

• Designed and developed  8 survey tools  

• Conducted pilot study and revised tools based on the result of the pilot 

• Prepared training manual and conducted several training of enumerators  

• Organized a data collection in the field in cooperation with the local governors  

• Developed field technical report 

• Conducted data entry and three phased data quality checking 

• Cleaned and developed data set for the data analysis  

• Conducted analysis on quantitative and qualitative data gathered from the field  

• Developed final report  

• Conducted dissemination workshop for the related stakeholders 

• All deliverables are developed in both languages, English and Mongolian 

Report is available on: Promoting Inclusive Education in Mongolia - East Asia Working Paper No. 28 (adb.org)