(TibetanReview.net, Nov06’25) – Exile Tibetan schools observed the birthday of Prof Samdhong Rinpoche on Nov 5 as their Teacher’s Day following its designation at the 8th Tibetan General Conference on Education of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) held earlier this year, reported Tibet.net Nov 5.
Marking the occasion, Kalon (Minister) Tharlam Dolma Changra of the CTA’s Department of Education has issued a message honouring Kyabje Samdong Rinpoche’s visionary and dedicated contributions to the advancement of modern Tibetan education. Her message emphasised the importance of recognising and remembering Professor Kyabje Samdong Rinpoche’s lifelong dedication to the betterment of the Tibetan community.
Prof Samdhong Rinpoche, whose given name is Lobsang Tenzin, taught as well as ran schools and a deemed-university for much of his life in exile until he became the Speaker of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) in 1991 – following his nomination as a member by the Dalai Lama – until 2001. The same year he got elected as the Kalon Tripa (executive head) of the CTA. He played key role in drafting the Charter of Tibetans in exile, 1991, and led the drafting of the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile, 2004.
He began as the religious teacher of Tibetan School in Shimla in Oct 1961 and became its acting Principal in 1963. He next became the religious teacher of Darjeeling Tibetan School in 1964 and, in 1965, at the age of 26, he was appointed as the Principal of Central School for Tibetans, Dalhousie, serving on it until 1970. He earned his Geshe Lharampa degree in 968 and Ngagrampa degree in 1969. In 1971 he became the Principal of Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies (CIHTS) at Varanasi (Benares), a deemed university, and from 1988 to 2001 he was its director.
In 1994, he was awarded with the National Lectureship by Indian Council of Philosophical Research (ICPR), New Delhi. He has also assumed many important academic responsibilities including as President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), an academic group of more than 250 Vice-Chancellors of Indian Universities, and as the Chancellor of Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies.