Manila  - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said Monday it was partnering with Japan to fund a pilot project aimed at improving access to preschool education among the poor in Mongolia.

The Manila-based ADB said the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, which it is administering, was extending a grant of 2.89 million dollars to help rural, nomadic and migrant children aged 3-6 years to get preschool education.

The project seeks to develop financially sustainable programmes in four provinces with training of caregivers, preschool teachers and support provided for mobile learning, the ADB said.

A total of 400 equipped kindergartens would also be established in tent settlements around the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, while social workers would get specialist training in early childhood education, it added.

"The project is the first to systematically address the provision of early childhood education for these vulnerable populations through a wide range of comprehensive pilot interventions," ADB education specialist Jazira Asanova said.

Asanova said the Mongolian government currently has no comprehensive system for delivering quality preschool education to rural, nomadic ethnic minority children.

The government of Magnolia would provide counterpart funding equivalent to 133,000 dollars, while local governments and communities would contribute logistics worth 67,000 dollars. (dpa)