Independent Evaluation

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Evaluation on the Education Sector in Mongolia
Completed: 2008

Education was one of the important achievements of Mongolia during the socialist era, with its education indicators comparable to those of middle income countries. However, with the cessation of financial and technical support from the Soviet Union in 1991, the quality of and access to education services deteriorated. The following issues and challenges faced the education sector in Mongolia:

• rehabilitating education infrastructure
• improving the quality of education
• reforming technical and vocational education
• enhancing aid coordination
• developing higher education standards
• providing rural education services
• addressing the exclusion of undocumented children
• improving the quality of education indicators

The Government considers strengthening the education sector as an integral part of its economic growth and social strategies. Education sector strategies have continuously evolved since the early 1990s in line with the Government's stated priorities and development goals as set forth in its Poverty Reduction Strategy, National Action Plan, and Millennium Development Goals for education.

ADB has been a major development partner in the education sector since Mongolia joined ADB in 1991. ADB has worked closely with the Government and other development partners in addressing challenges in the sector, and has taken the lead role, together with Japan, in harmonizing development assistance by providing assistance in the development of a sector-wide approach in education within the framework of Mongolia's Second Education Master Plan, 2006-2015.

  Summary of Findings

Sector strategies were in accordance with ADB's comparative advantage in education, and were aligned with efforts to harmonize ADB's development assistance with the programs of other partners. Consequently, the study finds ADB's strategic performance to be "highly successful".

ADB interventions have aimed to address the key issues and challenges in the sector. Loans, TA, and grants have helped improve access to and quality of basic education, and have strengthened the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Sector assistance has contributed to improvements in sector performance, as evidenced by progress in various education indicators, and has supported efforts to attain education-related MDGs. ADB also played a significant role in Mongolia's selection for the Education Fast Track Initiative, allowing the country to become eligible for grant funding to enable implementation of its Second Education Master Plan. For these reasons, ADB's sector program in education is assessed as "highly successful".

Combining the strategy and program assessments, overall performance in the education sector is rated "highly successful."

  Lessons Identified

ADB's experience in implementing interventions in the education sector has demonstrated that establishing and promoting successful models, such as the complex school model under the Education Sector Development Program, is feasible even in a country undergoing transition; and a participatory approach to project preparation and implementation is critical to success.

Issues and Challenges for the Future

Despite notable achievements in education, important challenges remain for possible ADB involvement in the future such as developing forward-looking strategies for the provision of education in rural and urban areas and providing education to undocumented children.