(TibetanReview.net, Apr18’24) — China claims to give high priority to teaching Tibetan children their language and culture when addressing the issue on its official media and especially at international human rights meetings. However, what it is doing on the ground seems to be continued and vigorous enforcement of President Xi Jinping’s Sinicization call that criminalizes any such effort by the Tibetan people. Authorities in the historically Tibetan area of Sichuan province have recently rusticated a veteran of Tibetan language and history teaching for being in violation of this Communist Party of China-state policy.
Reports say Dhonyoe, who had taught at the Meruma Central Primary School in a township by the same name in Ngaba (or Ngawa, Chinese: Aba) county and prefecture for the past 15 years was removed from his post and his teaching license suspended early this month after being interrogated on suspicion of violating the policy to promote the “national common language”. Despite being interrogated several times, he continued to push for greater use of Tibetan language in schools, suggested the Tibetan service of rfa.org Apr 17, citing sources who requested anonymity due to fears of official reprisal.
“Dhonyoe was accused of teaching his students beyond the national education system and was repeatedly questioned by authorities in mid-March,” one source has said.
The report said the Chinese government-run boarding school has about 500 Tibetan students, studying in kindergarten to the sixth grade, and about 60 teachers. The school taught Tibetan language and used Tibetan as a medium of instruction until 2018, when the new policy imposing Mandarin Chinese was implemented and the children’s mother tongue marginalized.
“Dhonyoe is a well-respected Tibetan teacher in the community,” a second source has said.
“He taught students the importance of the Tibetan language and Tibetan history, which is why he was expelled. Many students and their families were disappointed by his expulsion,” the source was quoted as saying.
The report said that especially since 2020, China further tightened restrictions on Tibetan language teaching, forcing the closure of privately-run Tibetan schools and banning mother tongue teaching in various schools in Tibetan-populated areas, including in neighbouring Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture. The new policy is being implemented in the name of promoting uniformity in the use of textbooks and instructional materials.
The report noted that in 2021, China also began prohibiting Tibetan children from taking informal Tibetan language classes or attending such workshops during their winter holidays, causing grave concern among the Tibetan people on the ban’s implications on the survival of Tibetan cultural identity.
The report said Dhonyoe’s expulsion followed a notice issued earlier this year in January by the Chinese government’s Education Department, repeating this ban and ordering local authorities to intensify their supervision and investigation of supplementary lessons for Tibetan children and to carry out strict disciplinary action against those violating the rule.