Proudly mongolian

High school students at the ethnic educational park have a bokh class.

Only 4 percent of residents in Bayannur are of the Mongolian ethnic group, one of the lowest among Inner Mongolian cities. It thus became an urgent and difficult task to keep more Mongolian education in their mother tongue, according to Baoyu, who is also of this ethnic group and heads the office in charge of ethnic education affiliated to the municipal education bureau.

"Unlike the huge Mongolian population in the east of Inner Mongolia, many Mongolian parents here are not able to speak their mother tongue and will naturally choose Mandarin education for children," Baoyu opines. According to recent statistics from Baoyu's office, only 46 percent of Mongolian students in Bayannur choose Mongolian language education from childhood, even though the number has slightly increased since 2008.

In 2008, the municipal government launched a project to waive the tuition fee, textbook costs, and boarding expenses for all the students undergoing Mongolian language education at elementary and high school, according to Khasbileg, principal of the educational park. Each of these students also receives 6,000 yuan ($983) annually as a cost-of-living subsidy. This free education policy was extended to kindergarten students two years later, making Bayannur one of the first cities in Inner Mongolia to complete "15-year free Mongolian language education".

The campus of the ethnic education park covers an area of 95,200 square meters. Based on the banner's only Mongolian-language high school, which was first built in 1978, its construction was completed in June this year.

"These schools share the same playground, the same gym, and other infrastructure," says Baoyu. "This avoids huge waste to build a separate campus for each, because we don't have that many Mongolian students here."

Though Urad Rear Banner covers an area of 25,000 square kilometers, about 50 percent larger than Beijing, its population is only about 80,000. The Mongolian high school only has 185 students combining all six grades, and the elementary school section has 351.

"The original purpose of the ethnic educational park was to attract more Mongolian students by providing free education and fine infrastructure," he explains. "But that is far from enough. The best students have been selected by high schools in richer places. It takes a lot of work to build up our reputation."