Ulaanbaatar, January 16, 2024 /MONTSAME/. Our country will become a dual script country from 2025. There is one year left to prepare for this. The work accomplished in the past and the preparations for the upcoming year were discussed at the National Conference on 'Problems and Solutions of Mongolian Language and Writing,' held at the Central Cultural Palace yesterday.

To address the legal aspects of conducting public affairs in Cyrillic and Mongol Script:

• On February 12, 2015, the State Great Khural approved the law on the Mongolian language for the conduct of public affairs in dual script form, effective from January 1, 2025,

• The Prime Minister of Mongolia issued Decree No. 144 of 2020 regarding the preparation work for this initiative,

It is worth mentioning that the National Program for Mongol Script is currently being implemented within the framework of the law.

There was a study that found individuals who studied the Mongolian language and writing upon entering the first grade of elementary school in 1990 now constitute 33 percent of civil servants.

The following activities have been carried out in the past as presented by Dr. N. Narangerel, Head of the National Language Policy Council:

• The working group to switch to dual script is headed by the Minister of Education and Science, and representatives of more than 20 organizations are working together.

• Printed forms and letterheads for official documents in dual script are being tested out.

• The Ministry of Digital Development and Communications is responsible for artificial intelligence and e-linguistics, and is creating a program database for converting from Cyrillic to Mongol Script and from Mongol Script to Cyrillic with a capacity of one billion words. When the program is ready, the archives and clerks will print out documents on the official letterhead.

• Standards have been prepared for implementation by the National Program for Mongol Script, and a technological solution is currently awaited.

• The comprehensive training of 200,000 civil servants in the Mongol script is being organized by the governors of 21 provinces, the heads of the Language Policy Council, the General Authority for Archives, and the National Centre for Lifelong Education in collaboration with the National Academy of Governance. As of today, approximately 100,000 civil servants have completed the training.

• Fifty out of the 69 activities outlined in the National Program for Mongol Script III have been prepared, and more than 10 are currently being implemented.

A database of a program that converts text from Cyrillic to Mongol Script was created.

Representatives and Ministers of the Office of the President of Mongolia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Culture, and Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, along with representatives of provinces, cities, and localities, participated in the Conference. The National Language Policy Council and the Institute of Linguistics of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences jointly issued the primary, secondary, and teacher's manuals for civil servants under the National Program for Mongol Script. These were unveiled during yesterday's Conference.