(TibetanReview.net, Jan24’19) – Call it a Sinicization move or giving of better modern education to Tibetan children. China has so far educated in schools in mainland provinces more than 141,000 Tibetan students over the past 33 years, reported China’s official globaltimes.cn Jan 22, citing the education authority of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
The report noted that the Chinese central government decided to establish schools or classes for Tibetan students in other provinces in 1985 with a preliminary budget of 30 million yuan ($4.3 million) and a later subsidy of 100 million yuan.
Under this programme, a total of 75 middle schools in 20 provinces have, as of today, designated special classes for Tibetan students or classes with both local and Tibetan students, while 29 secondary vocational schools have been established in 12 provinces. Additionally, 196 universities accept students from the TAR, the report added.
The report added that these schools and classes had fostered more than 46,000 skilled workers in various sectors for the TAR.
In China’s financial capital, the Shanghai Gongkang Junior Middle School had 637 Tibetan students and 140 local students, the report noted. The school has become an important bridge in connecting Tibetan and Shanghai people, it added.
The report said the school also helped Tibetan students integrate with Chinese families in the city through a “student pairs” programme “to foster a warm environment for the young students, who leave their families at a young age”.
The school cooperated with six schools in Shanghai to enable Tibetan students to “feel the warmth of families and siblings,” Li Jin, principal of the school, was quoted as saying.
