Culture and language are intertwined, so what does it mean when students cannot speak their own native language?

This is proving to be an ominous line of inquiry for Mongolian scholar Gao Saiyin Bayaer, who has pointed out that while some rural Inner Mongolian Primary school students remain fluent in their native tongue, many are more comfortable using Putonghua while others, particularly those in urban areas cannot even speak their native language.

Gao, a native Mongolian who worked for 18 years at ethnic schools and local education authorities, relates the declining linguistic competency to an increasingly worrying ethnic identity crisis.

"Nomadic culture and ethnic education in the region is struggling for survival," said Gao, adding that a lack of cultural education combined with a booming albeit chaotic process of urbanization and economic development is fueling the situation.

With the number of Mongolian language schools shrinking, Gao is attempting to preserve the local culture. To this end he is participating in a fundraising campaign alongside other volunteers, in an effort to save the region's last village-level Mongolian-language primary school.

The online campaign to raise funds for the Bayan Mende Primary School, the last village-level school that offers courses in Mongolian, started on August 7.  

Participants see the fundraising campaign as part of the fight for the very survival of the culture. "Fewer rural schools and teachers are teaching Mongolian courses, fewer students are speaking and learning Mongolian, and fewer nomads living on the pastures have made nomadic culture slowly drifting away from the younger generation in the region," he said.

The school for nomads

Bayan Mende, dubbed the "horseback school," was established in 1937 and is located in the northwestern area of Chifeng. It teaches students from three nearby villages, including those living in remote, sandy areas which are difficult to access. It has been classified as a key school, but has been struggling to repair its dilapidated teaching buildings and poor infrastructure, as it only receives limited government support. Compounding the problem is the fact that many students keep transferring to city schools.

The school became the only village school after the State Council launched a national policy to integrate schools in rural areas in 2001. Due to speedy urbanization, a decreasing birth rate in rural areas and massive population migration into cities, the policy aimed to better allocate resources and improve education in rural areas.

"We're worried the region's ethnic culture will die if students have nowhere left to study their own culture and language," said Rong Yan, a researcher with the Beijing-based NGO Green Beagle, the initiator of the fund-raiser.

Green Beagle plans to collect 100,000 yuan ($15,730) by September 1, when their volunteers will visit the school with donations to purchase teaching materials such as Mongolian-language textbooks, Inner Mongolian bows, chess sets and musical instruments.

"Although the government says they encourage ethnic education in ethnic groups, the massive re-distribution of rural schools has seriously affected the life and basic education of local culture," Rong said, explaining that many village schools which offer Mongolian courses have shut down due to the policy.

In an effort to halt the decline in the spread of Mongolian culture, the regional government has introduced policies to encourage ethnic education, including allocating extra funding for Mongolian-language schools and subsidies for teachers and ethnic students.

Spotlight on policy

The nationwide restructuring of schools and education has been the subject of intense public debate over the past decade, as numbers of rural schools have declined. Chen Jiqun, an artist who runs a website focusing on Mongolian culture and environmental preservation, told the Global Times that many village schools have illegally been shut down by corrupt officials who profited from the demolition and amalgamation of campuses.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, the number of primary schools in China's rural areas dropped by half, and high schools by 26 percent from 2001 to 2010. In Inner Mongolia, over 70 percent of the schools have been shut down or merged with some 2,600 remaining throughout the entire region. In the region's Xilin Gol League for example, only two township primary schools still remained after the policy was implemented.

Although most village schools have been merged into bigger schools which offer better facilities, students have had to transfer to schools far away from home and the education received in bigger classes isn't always suitable, Gao said.

"In some schools there are more than 80 students in a single class. Some don't teach Mongolian and even if they do, Inner Mongolian kids find it difficult to manage study and are less willing to learn because they're spending more time with Han students," he said.