By: Ayas Aldarmaa

Introduction

Mongolia’s sweeping steppes, herder culture, and deep connection to nature are central to its identity. But in recent years, an environmental disaster known as dzud—severe winters following drought summers that bring heavy snow, ice crusts, extreme cold—has increasingly threatened not just livelihoods, but the future of education. For many herder families, a dzud doesn’t only mean loss of livestock; it means children missing school, infrastructure damage, and educational interruption that leaves gaps difficult to close.

This essay examines how the dzud phenomenon, intensified by climate change, has been undermining education in Mongolia in recent years. It analyses causes and consequences, places the issue into a global perspective, zooms in on national/local experiences, weighs different viewpoints, suggests a course of action, evaluates the sources used, and ends with a personal reflection. My argument is that unless Mongolia substantially improves educational resilience to dzud, a whole generation, especially in rural and herder communities, risks being left behind.

Causes and Consequences

Cau

1.    Climate Change Intensifies Dzud Patterns

 Studies show that Mongolia is experiencing hotter summers and more intense droughts, reducing pasture growth and hay reserves. These are often followed by winters with very heavy snow, hard ice crusts (called “iron dzud”), or “white dzud” (deep snow), that block grazing. The chain reaction—from summer heat/drought to winter severity—is being amplified by global climate change.  

2.    Herder Livelihood Vulnerability

 Herders depend on livestock as their main wealth and source of income and food. When millions of animals die during a dzud, herder families lose their resources, financial stability, and ability to invest in education (uniforms, transport, supplies). They might prioritize immediate survival over schooling. 

3.    Physical Barriers to Attendance

 The snow and ice of dzud make many rural roads impassable; remote soums become cut off. During heavy snow/drifts and extreme cold, even traveling short distances to school becomes dangerous or impossible. Dormitory capacity and heated infrastructure in remote areas are often insufficient. 

4.    Health, Nutrition, and Psychological Stress

 Extreme cold, indoor air pollution from heating (often coal or wood), insufficient food due to livestock loss, and water/sanitation disruptions combine to worsen child health. Illness leads to missed class days. Psychological stress—fear of losing the herd, economic insecurity, family burden—also reduce learning engagement. 

Consequences

1.    Interrupted and Reduced School Attendance

 During recent dzud seasons (especially Nov 2023–May 2024), many students in affected soums missed weeks or months of school. Some school openings are delayed. For example, in Bulgan aimag, snow-blockages prevented 20-something students from returning even after major holiday breaks. Dormitories become overcrowded or simply can’t house students if travel is dangerous. 

2.    Dropouts and Delayed Progress

 Children from herder households are more likely to drop out or delay advancing to next levels if their family’s livelihood is badly affected. In many cases, children are expected to help with herding or caring for animals, especially after livestock losses. This disrupts long-term schooling. 

3.    Learning Loss and Lower Achievement

 When schooling is disrupted, foundational lessons are missed. Teachers may have to re-teach major sections or skip ahead, reducing mastery of earlier content. Remote areas, where schools have fewer resources, feel this more. Over time, this could reduce national average achievement levels. While precise data on test scores in all affected zones is still emerging, reports from UNICEF and others warn of this risk. 

4.    Widening Inequalities

 Urban children are less impacted (better heated schools, better transport, possibly remote learning). Children in herding communities, remote soums, and poorer households bear the brunt. Culture and mobility also matter; nomadic or semi-nomadic families are less likely to have stable access. Gender issues may also worsen: in some situations, girls may be kept home more. All this increases the gap between those with stable schooling environments and those without. 

5.    Long-Term Consequences for Social & Economic Mobility

 Education is key for future opportunity. If children miss foundational schooling or drop out, their ability to enter higher levels, compete for jobs beyond herding, or access urban services diminishes. Also, culture is affected: nomadic traditions, indigenous knowledge, and local heritage may weaken as families migrate to cities or abandon herding. 

Global Perspectives

To understand Mongolia’s situation in context, it helps to look at similar cases globally:

●    Pastoralist/Drought-Affected Regions in East Africa

 Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan have seasons of drought and variable rainfall followed by flooding or extreme weather, which affect schooling: children miss classes, migrate with families, or are pulled out by economic need. Many NGOs promote mobile schools or seasonal schooling. The problems are analogous: remote distances, infrastructure issues, health, economic strain.

●    Climate Impact in South Asia

 Flooding, cyclones, and seasonal monsoon changes in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan cause massive school disruptions. In many cases, education systems try remedial teaching, community-based schooling, or disaster resilient infrastructure. However, results vary: budgets often limit upgrades, remote areas remain disadvantaged.

●    Cold-Climate Disasters

 Northern Canada, Siberia, parts of Alaska have harsh winters. Transport, isolation, and infrastructure failures impact school attendance. Indigenous populations often face these challenges, similar to herder children in Mongolia. Innovations include remote learning, better building insulation, winterized transport solutions.

Comparative Lessons:

●    Remote learning works when paired with reliable technology and local capacity; radio or preloaded content helps where internet is unreliable.

●    Early warning systems and disaster risk planning help reduce surprise and allow preparation.

●    Economic safety nets can prevent the worst education losses by helping families survive livestock losses so they can still support schooling.

●    Infrastructure designed for local climate (heating, insulation, accessibility) pays off during extreme weather.

National or Local Perspectives (Mongolia)

Here are how things are playing out specifically in Mongolia:

1.    Recent Dzud 2023-2024 & Extent of Damage

 The winter/dzud spanning November 2023 through spring 2024 is one of the worst in ~50 years. Over 76-90% of the country was under dzud or near-dzud conditions. Over 5-7 million livestock died (some estimates are 5.9 million by March, later rising to over 7 million) which is roughly 7-11% of the total livestock population. 

 More than 188,300 people were directly affected, including over 80,000 children. 

2.    Educational Disruption Reports

○    Montsame reported in Bayannuur soum, Bulgan aimag, that 23 students were unable to return to school after Lunar New Year due to snow blockages. Dormitory capacity was exceeded (71 students in a dorm built for 50), and there is demand for a new dormitory. 

○    Kindergartens suffering low attendance in cold winters, especially in remote soums. 

○    The Government’s Dzud Response Plan (March 2024) identifies 200,000+ people in need of assistance, many herder households, and names education continuity one of the sectors of concern. 

3.   Local Innovations & Responses

○    Use of tablets and remote education platforms (EDUTEN, Pearson etc.) by schools in affected soums to allow remote or semi-remote teaching. 

○    Dormitories are being expanded or requested to accommodate students who cannot travel daily because of snow/road issues.

○    UNICEF, government, and other humanitarian actors distributing audio learning kits, pre-loaded devices, and exploring ways to deliver content when roads are blocked. 

○    Efforts for more climate resilient school infrastructure (improved heating, insulation, remote facilities) are discussed in policy documents and response plans. 

4.    Challenges in the National Response

○    Funding constraints: many remote or herder area schools are under-funded; upgrading infrastructure is expensive.

○    Logistics: clearing roads, delivering supplies in severe winter is difficult and expensive.

○    Unequal access: households without heating, without good roads, or without digital access (internet, electricity, tablets) are still left behind.

○    Cultural/lifestyle constraints: herder families sometimes move during seasons, making consistent schooling hard.

Evaluation of Perspectives

Here I examine different viewpoints and trade-offs.

●    Perspective A: Strong Disaster Planning & Infrastructure Investment

 Strengths: Builds long-term resilience; reduces damage and disruptions; helps maintain continuity of schooling.

 Weaknesses: Expensive; requires political commitment over years; effects may lag; in remote or nomadic areas, infrastructure spending alone may not solve attendance problems.

●    Perspective B: Remote Learning & Technology

 Strengths: Flexible; can reach remote children during periods when travel is impossible; less infrastructural cost than building new heated schools everywhere; can be scaled.

 Weaknesses: Dependent on electricity, internet, or device availability; content quality matters; risk of excluding households without these technologies; teacher training takes time; remote learning may not substitute interactive classroom learning fully (especially for young children or foundational skills).

●    Perspective C: Economic & Social Safety Nets

 Strengths: Helps families survive livestock loss; helps prevent forced dropouts; can be targeted; may provide immediate relief needed to maintain schooling.

 Weaknesses: Requires ongoing resources; needs good monitoring to reach those in greatest need; may not prevent infrastructure damage or attendance disruptions caused by physical barriers; may be politically harder to sustain.

●   Perspective D: Cultural/Community-Based Adaptation

 Strengths: Values local knowledge; aligns schooling with herding seasonal cycles; may increase buy-in; can preserve cultural identity; helps adapt education to mobile lifestyles.

 Weaknesses: May require flexible systems that are unfamiliar; harder to standardize; possibly harder to ensure quality; communities may lack resources; may still be disrupted in severe dzuds.

Each perspective offers important contributions. The most effective strategy is likely a fusion: combining infrastructure upgrades, remote learning capacity, financial/social support, and community-sensitive scheduling or schooling models.

Course of Action

Here are what I believe Mongolia should implement or scale, for maximum impact:

1.    Create a Dzud Risk & Education Disruption Map / Index

 A government panel (Ministry of Education + Environment + Emergency Management + NGOs) should develop a risk map showing soums most likely to be hit severely by dzuds. Include metrics like predicted snowfall, pasture health, past livestock losses, road accessibility, remote households. Use this to target resources ahead of winter.

2.    Pre-Position Remote Learning Resources

Before winter, distribute solar-powered or battery kits preloaded with lessons; radio/TV lessons; mobile learning hubs in centers accessible when roads open; train teachers in using these tools; encourage content suitable for asynchronous learning.

3.    Upgrade Climate-Resilient School Infrastructure

 Retrofit schools and dormitories with insulation, solar heating, better fuel supply; ensure safe water and sanitation even in winter; expand dormitory capacity in key remote areas so students can stay nearby when travel is unsafe.

4.    Implement Conditional Support Programs for Herding Families

 For families who lose livestock in dzud, offer conditional cash or in-kind support tied to children’s attendance (e.g., school supplies, uniforms, warm clothing). Also subsidize transport when roads are safe, or provide alternate lodging in unaffected anchors.

5.    Flexible School Scheduling & Education Models

 Adjust school calendars to align with herding cycles or dzud forecasts; offer modular lessons so missed content can be caught up in lighter periods; promote community schools or seasonal/mobile schools; integrate herder knowledge and culture in curricula to keep relevance and reduce dropout.

6.    Improved Early Warning & Community Preparedness

 Strengthen weather forecasting, dzud warning systems, and communicative channels to herder families; set up community-based response teams to clear critical paths; mobilize emergency fuel, food, and heating supplies pre-winter.

7.    Monitoring, Evaluation & Policy Integration

 Collect data on attendance, dropouts, learning loss from affected areas. Use this to inform education policy nationwide. Integrate Education Ministry plans with climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction policies.

Implementing these actions in the highest risk provinces first (western and central Mongolia) would maximize benefits. Collaboration between the government, NGOs, local herder communities, and international donors is essential.

Evaluation of Sources

I used recent reports (2023-2025) from multiple credible entities:

●    UNICEF Mongolia — high reliability, field data, focused studies on climate impact on education. 

●    PreventionWeb, UN News, ACAPS — give situational updates and estimates; good for breadth and urgency. 

●    Save the Children — detailed in-country reporting, especially on children affected. 

●    Government of Mongolia + UNDP / SEIA assessment — credible as joint national/international bodies. 

●    Academic work (e.g. “Assessment of the frequency of Dzuds in the livestock sector …”) — gives historical and quantitative context on livestock mortality and patterns. 

Limitations:

●    While livestock loss data is robust, data on student learning outcomes (grades, test scores) post-dzud is still limited.

●    Remote areas often underreported; many reports use estimates.

●    Some sources are media articles which might simplify statistics or omit uncertainty ranges.

●    Longer-term longitudinal studies (tracking students over many dzuds) are rare.

Overall, though, the sources together paint a coherent, alarming picture, and are sufficient to argue policy changes.

Personal Reflection

Writing this helped me see how education is not isolated from environment; climate events are not just ecological or economic crises, but personal ones. Growing up in an education system, I always assumed disruptions are occasional, but the scale and frequency of dzuds make them a chronic threat for many Mongolian children.

I also feel that people in urban centers (including myself) can underestimate how serious this is for herder and remote soum communities. The idea of remote learning sounds good until you realize how many lack reliable power, heat, or transport.

If I had the chance, I’d like to be involved in designing remote lessons (audio-based, low tech) in Mongolian herder dialects, or helping map risk at the soum/province level so that students know whether they’ll miss school and plan ahead.

I believe that unless we act with both compassion and urgency—combining policy, infrastructure, and cultural sensitivity—Mongolia risks repeating cycles of disaster and education loss that leave rural children permanently trailing behind.

Bibliography

●    UNICEF Mongolia. The Impact of Climate Change on Education in Mongolia. UNICEF, 2024. 

●    PreventionWeb. “Strengthening educational resilience to withstand dzuds.” PreventionWeb, 2024. 

●    Save the Children International. “Mongolia’s extreme winter: 5.2 million livestock dead as children miss out on school.” 2024. 

●    Government of Mongolia & UN Mongolia. Dzud Response Plan March 2024 Update. 2024. 

●    Montsame. “Dzud Causes Rural Students to Miss Classes.” February 2024. 

●    ACAPS Mongolia country report: “Mongolia | ACAPS.” 2024. 

●    UNDP Mongolia. “Government of Mongolia and UN Mongolia Launch Socio-Economic Assessment and Impact of Dzud Reports.” May 2025. 

●    Sainbayar Surenkhuu, Erdenetuya Boldbaatar, Khulan Borchuluun, Oyuntuya Sharavjamts. “Assessment of the frequency of Dzuds in the livestock sector of Mongolia.” Mongolian Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2023. 

●    UN News. “Mongolian dzud: Extreme weather puts 90% of country at ‘high risk’.” UN News, February 2024.