CHINAWATCH

The lack of Education Opportunites drive Tibetans into Exile

By TCHRD, Dharamshala

Every year thousands of Tibetans come into exile in search of a better life and freedom which is denied in their own land. Of these escapees, majority of them constitute of Children, whose sole purpose of coming into exile is to seek better education in exile which is not possible in Tibet. According to the figure available with Dharamsala based Tibetan Reception Centre, a total of 2445 Tibetans were registered as refugee in India in 2006 alone. Majority of these new escapees are children below the age of eighteen.

According to a record available with the Tibetan Reception Centre, Dharamsala, they received two groups each comprising 40 recently arrived Tibetans from Delhi based Tibetan Reception Centre on 23 and 27 March 2007 respectively. Out of which 37 of them were 18 or below, 29 were between 19 to 25 year old and 10 were between the ages of 26 to 30. From the groups only 4 peoples were above the age of 30. From the above 80 recent escapees, 51 came into exile to seek education in exile schools while 23 came into exile for monastic education. Only 6 people came into exile for pilgrimage to holy Buddhist sites and of them, 4 were above 30 years old.

If the education opportunities did exist in Tibet, then these refugees would not have made the treacherous and perilous journey into India. They would not have undertaken the risk of frostbite, starvation, death and loss, arrest and maltreatment by border security officials.

In September 2006, 75 Tibetan refugees crossed the glaciated Nangpa La pass to seek asylum in India. However, the Chinese People’s Armed Police (PAP) opened fire on the unarmed group without any warning on 30 September 2006. This resulted in the death of at least two Tibetans, including 17-year-old Kalsang Nortso. 41 of them were children below 18 years of age, who were sent by their parent for better education opportunities in schools and monasteries run by the Tibetan government in exile.

It can be construed from the above facts and figures that the majority of escapees are children, who came into exile solely to seek better education opportunities that are not available in their native country.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) recent interview with 18 year old Dorjee, a teacher from Tsolung village, Ngari Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”) highlighted the current state of education in Tibet and why Tibetan children come into exile. After reaching the Tibetan Reception Centre, Kathmandu, Nepal on 27 April 2007, Dorjee testified with TCHRD about his life and education in Tibet.
“Our family consists of 11 members. I am the youngest of the four brothers. My three elders brothers were married and each have 2 or 3 children’s from their wedlock. I am the only educated one in my family. The rest of the family members were engaged in farming. Our family owned an arable land of 30 Mu (Mu is a measure of land equal to 67 square meters) and cropped barley, wheat, peas and potatoes. We also had few goats which were taken care of at home. We were able to get a little money by selling wool. But our family’s main source of income is agriculture farming. There is no alternative source on which our family can depend on.”
“Both of my parents are in their late 60s, while my three elder brothers work on the farm during autumn and work as labourers at construction sites during winter in towns and cities. Our family has to rely completely on their hard labour. All my schools fees were also paid from their earnings.”

“I joined the elementary school in County at the age of 10 and finished my 6th standard. No fees were charged by the local Chinese government for elementary education. However, in middle school, the school authorities charged 600 Chinese Yuan per semester, which included the cost of books and school uniform. We had to attend two semesters per year, which meant I had to pay 1200 Chinese Yuan per year in school fees. Since my school was located quite far from my home, I stayed in the school hostel. Hence, I had to pay 150 Chinese Yuan per year in hostel fees in addition to the school fees.”

“Our school had around 800 students with 30 teachers. The major subjects taught in the school were Chinese, Tibetan, English, Mathematics, Geography, Physics, Chemistry, General Science, Political Science and Physical education. However, the Chinese language is given more importance by conducting teaching extensively in Chinese, while Tibetan was considered a secondary language. Moreover, the teachers tell the students that, ‘without the proper knowledge of Chinese language, one will find difficulties in finding a job in future, hence one has to be proficient in the Chinese language.’ They also say that, ‘Tibetan being a secondary language, it is not of that much use in the future; hence it won’t matter if you don’t study Tibetan seriously.’ The school authorities also cut the teaching session of Tibetan language down to thrice a week. The remaining sessions were allotted for teaching Chinese language and other subjects.”

“After completing my three years in middle school on 1 July 2003, I joined high school at the same school. The fees for high school are much more than the middle school. The fees are as high as 1900 Chinese Yuan per semester and 3800 Yuan for one year.”

“I completed my first year of high school education on 15 July 2004; however my parents withdrew me from the school. I was forced to discontinue my education, as my parents could not afford the exorbitant fees charged by the schools’ authorities. I was unable to continue my education for my 2nd and 3rd years due to exorbitant school fees. Being one of the intelligent students in my class and possessing good knowledge of Tibetan, Chinese and Math, I easily got a job as a small children’s teacher in the primary school in my village, through the help of one primary school teacher in Doepe Township.”

“I stayed there for two years teaching Tibetan, Chinese and Math to more than 30 students. I was paid a meagre salary of 175 Yuan per month by the local Chinese government. The conditions of the school were highly pathetic. The class rooms were all in a dilapidated state. The chairs, desks and the black-boards were all broken and out of order. Even the staff quarters were all torn out, with cracks on the roof and wall.”

“The Chinese government was only interested in the development of the regions which have natural resources. If they find that region has some natural resources, they will start a minor development program like road construction etc. The Chinese government has never made any development in my village, as the region was remotely situated with no natural resources. For example, there was no electricity in my village and the residents had to rely solely on solar energy for the light. Some families had no money to procure solar energy, so they were compelled to live without light.”

“Most of the lands in my village were not fertile and barren. The residents faced lots of hardship in meeting their daily livelihood. It is also rare to find educated peoples in my village. Due to lack of natural resources in my village, the Chinese government never made any developments until date. The peoples in my village are experiencing an awful state of living conditions. Due to poor living standards in my village and lack of opportunity in education, I came into exile to seek a better education. I am fully committed in completing my education and afterward, I will return to my native village. I will work there as a teacher and will impart the knowledge, I have gained from here to my fellow countrymen over there.”