Monitoring the implementation of child protection actions, President of Mongolia Battulga Khaltmaa held the second meeting with the related officials yesterday as scheduled during the previous meeting on August 30. After studying their reports, the President inquired the related agencies for faults and delays.
1335 SIX-YEAR OLDS WERE UNABLE TO ENROLL INTO SCHOOL
President: -I ordered the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport (MECSS) to prepare the standards for child protection and conduct safety inspections. What has been done in this regard and why hasn’t the standards prepared yet?
MECSS: -We have approved the standards of preschool education institutions in cooperation with the UNICEF. The implementation guidelines have been sent to every kindergartens nationwide. They have started sending their ability to install the standard with their own assets. The study is expected to finalize next month.

President: -11 percent of secondary schools have high risk, 31 percent - medium risk and 57 percent - low risk according to the Environmental Safety Assessment. There are no riskfree schools. The potential victims to the risk is children. Are there any opportunity to make them risk-free?

MECSS: -There are 65 secondary schools under high risk, of which 15 are in the Capital and the rest being in local areas. Majority of the current secondary schools were constructed in the 1970’s. Some buildings are aged over 50 years. We will focus on renovating constructions under the risk assessment.

President: -Enrollment of sixyears olds is becoming a growing problem in local areas. Several parents have already issued complaints on school accessibility. How are you planning on solving this?

MECSS: -As stated by the Law on Education, we are delaying the enrollment of six-year old children by one year. The enrollment of a total of 1335 children were postponed in this regard.

President: -This is not a solution. Every single six-year old child will not live in dormitories. This has to be settled within legal frames. Another problem is daycare centers. Who is responsible for their standards?

MECSS: -There was a decision to operate day-care centers at schools. The ministry cannot monitor private day-care centers. We have submitted a request to the National Authority for Children and the Cabinet and are revising the standards and requirements.

PRIOR NOTICES CAUSE INEFFECTIVE INSPECTIONS

President: -I have received several complaints about retail stores selling expired and/or unidentified products. General Agency for Specialized Investigation (GASI) inspection concluded that they were “unable to settle”. Aren’t there any surprise inspections?

GASI: -Law on State Inspection and Examination identifies planned and unplanned inspections. The planned inspection has to be notified near the end of the previous year, while the unplanned inspections require complaints or requests, as well as five-days of prior notice
President: -Prior notices will result in ineffective inspections. The law has to be reviewed.

GASI: -This is also our facing issue. It is impossible to find any violations with prior notices. Our inspectors are willing to conduct unplanned inspections if the law is revised.

700 PEOPLE BECAME VICTIMS OF CAR ACCIDENTS SINCE JANUARY, OF WHITCH 40 PERCENT WERE CHILDREN

President: -A serious incident occurred on social media last week. How is the action on cybercrime prevention?

National Police Agency (NPA): -The UNFRIEND movement against cybercrime reached over 6.1 million people in a double counting. In cooperation with the Communication and Information Technology Authority, the preparatory works of an influence campaign is currently underway. Also, the NPA has established a unit to fight against cybercrime.

President criticizes Cabinet's lack of response to capital punishment
At the end of the meeting, the President concluded the reports of Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Authority for Family, Child and Youth Development, MECSS and Education Department of the Capital as inadequate and complimented the GASI, NPA and Traffic Police Authority for their effective actions. He then highlighted the growing numbers of child abuse and its recurrence, which is around 2-3 cases per day, and warned to focus on the issue. He remarked, “I submitted a request to revive capital punishment on child abusers; however, the Cabinet did not respond yet.”

Published Date:2018-10-10