Teacher jailed for 15 years in widening repression at schools in Tibet

(TibetanReview.net, May17 2010) A Tibetan primary school teacher arrested in mid-2008 by the Chinese intelligence in Nagchu Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region had been sentenced to a 15-year jail term in Jan’10 for her alleged involvement in political activities, reported the exile Tibetan government on its website Tibet.net May 15.

Lhamo Kyab was taken into custody from a primary school at Driru (Chinese: Biru) County on the third day of her having joined it. She was taken to her home in Nagchu County which the officials raided and searched. She was taken to a secret detention centre in Sangyib, in the outskirts of Lhasa, where she kept on being interrogated until the time of her sentencing.

Before Driru, Lhamo had taught Tibetan and Chinese languages, as well as Mathematics, at a school in Nagchu County for 25 years. She did not get any official position during the period as she did not join the communist party. She was said to be respected not only by students and the public but also government officials as a "person sincerely committed in educating Tibetan students about Tibet's culture and traditions".

Repression in other schools
The report said Lhamo’s sentencing was only one instance of China’s recent repression in schools in Tibet. It noted that a group of students at a primary school in Driru County had also been detained in another case, although it did not give any further details about it.

Tibet.net also reported that in Machu (Chinese: Maqu) County of Gansu Province, the local authorities had expelled a group of Tibetan middle school teachers while detaining other students and the remaining teachers. It said 21 teachers were punished with fines due to student demonstrations against the Chinese government.

It also said teachers of Machu primary school and five teachers of Barkham (Chinese: Ma’erkang) teacher training school in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Prefecture of Sichuan Province had also been arrested. The report did not give any further details.

The report also referred to the cases of student-writers Tashi Rabten, a native of Dzoge (Chinese: Ruo’ergai) County in Ngaba Prefecture, and Drongbhu, a native of Sangchu County in Gansu Province. Both were taken away from Northwestern Tibetan Nationality Senior School in Gansu Province in Apr’10 for unknown reasons.