Books for Asia in Mongolia
The Asia Foundation's Books for Asia program has provided more than half a million books to Mongolian institutions since 1990. It is the only continuous English-language book donation program in the country. Read program overview.
Status of Education in Mongolia
Mongolia boasts literacy rates of 97.7 percent for both men and women. Despite the high literacy achieved under the formerly centrally planned system, significant poverty and increasing rural-urban disparities strain the education system. With a population of 2.9 million spread across vast terrain and few domestic publishers, Mongolia's main educational challenge is reaching remote communities. There is tremendous pressure to learn English, given the government's declaration in 2005 to make English the country's second language, but universities and other institutions are normally unable to afford ample books, newspapers, or resource materials in Mongolian, let alone English.
As the majority of educational institutions in far-flung communities don't have access to English-language material, Books for Asia donates new books donated by American publishers to all provinces: more than 70,000 books to nearly 400 institutions on an annual basis, including schools, universities, nongovernmental organizations, and government policy making institutions.
Read more about The Asia Foundation's work in Mongolia.
Books for Asia Coordinator