It’s familiar. You’re looking for something specific and discover something completely unexpected along the way.
A few days ago, I was searching the internet for data and stories that could help shed light on CICED’s slogan ‘better education – better lives’.
Among many headlines in the search, one in particular caught my attention: ‘The most dangerous ways to school’
A documentary series about what children – and their parents – brave to get to school. School and education are a source of hope for a better life.
Among the most dangerous roads is the school road in the Mongolian winter.
The documentary is a beautiful reminder of why we support improving conditions at rural Mongolian boarding schools. Nomadic children who live more than a few kilometers from school simply can’t walk or ride for hours on end in 30 degree cold.
Right now, schools are corona-closed, but once the virus is safely under control, thousands of children across Mongolia will once again be accommodated in rural schools.
It’s not always fun, and in many places schools are still suffering from the collapse of the 1990s.
CICED’s project ‘Better School Start – Better School Life’focuses on better pedagogy, more leisure opportunities, better care, close-to-family-like environment, among other things.
We look forward to telling you more when the project wakes up from its corona sleep.
The Mongolian part of the documentary series can be viewed here
And if you want more dangerous ways to school, there are a frightening number of examples on youtube.com search for‘The most dangerous ways to school’
If you have the time and inclination to challenge your English and learn more about the history of Mongolian rural boarding schools, I highly recommend the article Non-traveling‘Best Practices’ for a Traveling Population: the case of nomadic education.
If you don’t want to read the whole article, start with the section on p. 26 under the heading ‘Nomadic Education in the People’s Republic: historical background’
Enjoy watching and reading.
