The national competition for the best reader of Mongolian traditional script will be held on May 4-5 at the “Zaisan Hill” complex. This competition will take place on a large scale within the framework of the “Year of National Literacy and Culture”. 

The Mongolian Government issued a resolution declaring 2024 as the “Year of National Literacy and Culture”. The resolution states that the 800th anniversary of Chinggis Khaan’ stone inscription and the 400th anniversary of Stone Inscriptions of Tsogt Khun-Taij, Prince of Khalkha are going to celebrated in 2024, respectively, according to Article 5.2 of the Law on Public Celebrations and Commemorative Days.

The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Mongol bichig, was the first writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic in 1946. It is traditionally written in vertical lines from top to down directions. Derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet, it is a true alphabet, with separate letters for consonants and vowels. It has been adapted in Oirat and Manchu scripts as well. Alphabets based on this classical vertical script continue to be used in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Mongols learned their script as a syllabary, dividing the syllables into twelve different classes, based on the final phonemes of the syllables, all of which ended in vowels.

When participating in the competition, people are advised to wear the national clothes and register on time. The national competition includes the best contestant selected from provincial and capital city competitions. Therefore, the regional best competition has been held until April 15.