Established 1961 7 International Thursday, September 2, 2021 Mongolian pupils go back to school and end long education exile Nearly two-thirds of the population has been fully vaccinated ULAANBAATAR: Guiding her younger brother For the urban poor and remote herding commu- from their yurt on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, 15- nities, education has been patchy at best, conducted year-old Urangoo Basandorj could barely contain inside small, congested homes where some families her excitement for yesterday’s return to school, as lack televisions or a reliable power supply. Mongolia’s children mark the end of grinding Complaints snowballed around social media but months of exile from education. The country of authorities stuck to movement restrictions and three million has taken some of the world’s tough- home learning, apart from a short respite late last est and most enduring measures against the year when schools were briefly reopened. COVID-19 pandemic, shutting schools and kinder- gartens since January 2020 and plunging children into a purgatory of remote learning with patchy access to technology. Nearly two-thirds of the population has been fully vaccinated yet Mongolia reported 3,726 new Remote virus cases yesterday-the highest daily increase since the pandemic hit the country, the health min- learning istry said. Still, masked students in blazers filed into a pri- mary school in the capital Ulanbaatar, where class- rooms were kitted out with temperature monitors, ULAANBAATAR: A teacher speaks to students during a class at the beginning of the new semester in Ulaanbaatar, hand sanitiser and social distancing stickers. “I the capital of Mongolia yesterday, after schools and kindergartens were closed since January 2020 amid the heard the news about reopening schools and I was ‘It’s time to adapt’ COVID-19 pandemic. — AFP super excited... I was so happy and I dreamt (of) my Yesterday’s reopening saw parents living in yurt classmates all night,” Urangoo Basandorj told AFP. districts near the capital-city dwellers from “It was so difficult not (being) able to meet my Mongolia’s nomadic culture-express delight that ture videos without any interaction-or online class- were not lost to their pupils. friends... the online class wasn’t nice.” Parents their children were returning to school. “When they es with limited outcomes. But for many others, in schools which routine- across Mongolia-a landlocked country where are watching TV lessons (in the yurt), there are so “Usually, teachers speak on their own and ly have 50 to 70 pupils per class, those years nearly a third of people live below the poverty many interruptions ... cooking, little siblings crying, some students even go to sleep while they turn have gone. line-have complained of varying access to educa- fire in the stove, and water boiling,” said Urangoo’s off camera and mic,” Urangoo Baasansuren At a school in the capital, father-of-three Munch tion since the pandemic first emerged in neigh- mother, Dolgorsuren Tumurbaatar. added. For the lucky few, expensive vastly-over- Purevdorj said it is now the right time to reopen bouring China, with televised classes condemned “Schools were closed too long. It’s time to adapt subscribed private schools provided applications schools. “We have such a high rate of first and sec- as limited and online learning restricted to those and live with COVID.” During the schools closures, such as “Google Classroom” and even on-to-one ond-dose vaccination,” he told AFP. “It’s time to with internet access. public-school students relied on “TV lessons”-lec- tutoring to ensure nearly two years of education think about (the children’s) future.” — AFP Turning from Afghanistan, US HK University sets focus on China labour researcher WASHINGTON: After two decades of focus on Afghanistan, the United States’ withdrawal this detained in China week allows the country to shift its concentration to BEIJING: A researcher from the University of the east, where superpower rival China is now the Hong Kong has been detained by police in number-one priority. China, friends said yesterday, while studying In an indication of Washington’s strategic turn, the politically thorny issue of workers’ rights. Vice President Kamala Harris was in Southeast Beijing has repeatedly cracked down on grass- Asia last week even as the US pullout from roots protests and labour NGOs in recent Afghanistan moved into its turbulent final days, years, with authorities seeking to control social hoping to strengthen US allies’ pushback against movements they view as a potential challenge the region’s giant. to the state. Harris accused Beijing of “actions that... threat- Fang Ran, a sociology PhD student en the rules-based international order,” particu- researching labour movements in China, has larly its aggressive claims of territory in the South not been seen for five days, friends told AFP. A China Sea. message circulated on social media, apparently Her tour of Singapore and Vietnam was seen as from his father, said his son was detained by an effort by the administration of President Joe police in the city of Nanning in southwestern Biden to reassure Asian allies, who were left some- Guangxi region last Thursday. what disquieted by the US pullout from Kabul after “I am extremely shocked at this,” wrote the sudden fall of the Afghan government that KABUL: A Taleban fighter (C) walks past shoppers along Mandawi market in Kabul yesterday a day after the US Fang’s father, describing his son as a loyal Washington had propped up for nearly 20 years. pulled all its troops out of the country to end a brutal 20-year war — one that started and ended with the hardline member of the ruling Chinese Communist Ryan Hass, a foreign policy specialist at the Islamist in power. — AFP Party. “In my view, Fang Ran is definitely not a Brookings Institution, said the debacle of the US criminal who seeks to harm the Party, but an pullout from Afghanistan will not have a lasting and rival superpowers Russia and China. good relations with the Taliban, the militant Islamist ambitious young person who is helpful to the impact on Washington’s credibility in Asia. He rejected suggestions Tuesday that the seem- group US forces fought for 20 years before they Party’s cause.” “America’s standing in Asia is a function of its ing momentary display of weakness by the again seized power in Afghanistan August 15. AFP could not independently verify the shared interests with its partners in balancing Americans could encourage China to invade Taiwan Beijing could decide quickly to recognize the message, but three friends of Fang who have China’s rise and in preserving the long peace that or Russia to attack Ukraine, for example. Taliban government, even as Washington and other been in contact with his family confirmed the has underpinned the region’s rapid development,” “I think anyone who thinks that their [Russia’s or Western governments hold off as they hope to con- content. Hong Kong University said in a state- Hass said. China’s] calculation has significantly changed vince Afghanistan’s new rulers to moderate their ment that it is “aware of the matter and actively “None of those factors are diminished by events because we just pulled the last 2,500 troops out of hardline policies. looking into it”. in Afghanistan,” he said told AFP. The US turn to Afghanistan — I really don’t see that,” Smith said “China, as a new great power in competition with “We will provide assistance to Mr Fang and East Asia will “open up new opportunities” for the during an online Brookings conference. the United States, probably wants to demonstrate its his family where appropriate,” a university US and its partners in the region, he told AFP. “There are a lot of other issues that go into unique way of handling world events, which tends to spokesperson told AFP. In the message his whether or not Russia and China are going to feel be — often reflexively — the opposite of father wrote that the 26-year-old had been put No encouragement to Russia like they have the ability to be aggressive in those Washington’s approach,” Grossman said. into a form of solitary secret detention known as Lawmaker Adam Smith, head of the Armed parts of the world,” he said. “Recognizing Taleban-run Afghanistan would con- “residential surveillance at a designated loca- Forces Committee in the House of Representatives, Derek Grossman, a former Pentagon official and tribute to the perception that it is Beijing, and no tion”, which is often used against dissidents. said that the US exit from Afghanistan is not likely now a defense expert at the Rand Corporation think longer Washington, that is now setting the agenda and Friends say that Fang, a Chinese national, to change the balance between the United States tank, said China could seek advantage in fostering shaping the future regional order,” he said. —AFP had been researching labour conditions in Chinese factories in the southern manufactur- ing hub of Shenzhen, where he lived for the Singapore is economically successful and ranks past six months. One of the friends told AFP Singapore premier among the world’s least corrupt countries, rights Fang was passionate about social issues and groups frequently accuse the government of was “not afraid of speaking out whenever he awarded $275,000 in restricting free speech and civil liberties. sees some injustice.” Watchdog Reporters Without Borders poorly Numerous student labour activists were defamation damages rates Singapore’s press freedoms, listing it 160 out detained in 2018 and 2019 as part of a nation- of 180 countries and regions. wide crackdown on campus Marxist groups, SINGAPORE: Singapore’s prime minister was Singapore’s leaders have defended bringing libel many of whom helped organise factory worker awarded more than a quarter of a million dollars in suits, saying they are necessary to protect their unions in southern China.