globalpressjournal.com – By Khorloo Khukhnokhoi – ERDENET, ORKHON PROVINCE, MONGOLIA — Last year, the Mongolian government restricted schools’ use of so-called virginity tests, a decades-old, internationally condemned practice of checking girls for signs of sexual activity, usually via a vaginal exam. But when 16-year-old Alungoo D. arrived at her school in this northern province one day in January, she discovered little had changed.
Her school doctor told female students they would undergo a “medical examination” — a euphemism for a virginity test — on campus, something last year’s order prohibits. Additional government rules require schools to get both a student’s and her parents’ consent beforehand. Alungoo says she refused, as did four classmates, but school officials told the girls they had no choice. “We do not want to be part of a girls’ examination, but the school administration demands and insists that it is mandatory,” Alungoo says. (Her full name and her school’s name are being withheld to protect her identity and prevent harassment. There are just a few dozen schools in the province.)