(TibetanReview.net, Mar28’26) –While imposing Mandarin learning from pre-school education onwards as a coercive measure with an agenda to assimilate the Tibetan people envisaged by China’s recently adopted ethnic unity and progress law is condemned, learning the language as a higher education option to improve job prospects and promote cultural exchanges is to be welcomed. This appears to be the underlying message as Taiwan and an exile educational institution signed a memorandum on Mar 25 under which the former will send Mandarin teachers to Tibetan schools in India.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by the education division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi and the Dalai Lama Institute for Higher Education in Bengaluru, reported Taiwan’s CNA news agency Mar 25.
The report cited Chen Mu-min, TECC head and Taiwan’s representative to India, as saying that under the MOU, Taiwanese teachers will be placed in Tibetan schools to teach Mandarin, thus creating more opportunities for cultural exchange and mutual understanding.
Tenzin Passang, principal of the Bengaluru institute, has said that while a Mandarin course was also being offered there since 2008, taught mostly by Tibetans, the new arrangement will bring native Chinese-language teachers, thus enhancing the quality of the course.
The report cited Jigmey Tsultrim, chief representative of the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) for the Tibetan settlements in southern India, as saying the MOU reflected the shared values in education, ideas, and democracy between the two sides and will strengthen bilateral ties.
Tashi Dickey, secretary at the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, New Delhi, has said learning Mandarin expands job opportunities for Tibetan students and can open doors for the wider Tibetan society, enabling them to better express themselves to Chinese-speaking audiences as they confront China and fight for a free Tibet.
Mandarin is the dominant language for education and government in Taiwan, while Taiwanese Hokkien is used by a majority of something like 70% of the population.