(TibetanReview.net, Apr04’25) – China said Mar 21 that it had started for the first time in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) a programme called “School-stationed Teaching Army Officers” (lob dar cha-doe mag pon) in Ser-nye (Chinese: Seni) district of Nagchu City. The army veterans are tasked to provide “patriotic education” and prepare Tibetan children for future military service, the Tibetan service of rfa.org Apr 1 cited sources as saying.
Located at an altitude of 4,500 metres above sea level, Ser-nye district in Nagchu City is something of a pilot site for the spread of ” School-stationed Teaching Army Officers” programme in the TAR, reported China’s online Tibet news service tb.tibet.cn Mar 21. Citing Tibet Daily newspaper.
The report said that last year, the first batch of 13 retired soldiers from Nagchu went to work in seven schools in the district area.
The report noted that under the programme, the No. 3 Primary School in the district started an emergency drill, and the students were able to reach the safe area in an orderly manner within a minute under the guidance of the “School-stationed Teaching Army Officers”.
Tenzin Nyima and Tharchin, the “School-stationed Teaching Officers” of the No. 3 Middle School in Ser-nye district were stated to teach the students how pack their bedding and belongings in a few minutes.
The report said that army veterans are regularly stationed in schools to provide students with strict routine management and training. The programme not only enables students to develop good living habits, but also makes national defence education and physical exercise a normal part of their daily life.
But according to the rfa.org report, the programme, which also focuses on political education, is a bid to instil loyalty to the Chinese government from a young age – an initiative that experts say highlight an escalation in Beijing’s assimilation policies aimed at erasing Tibetan identity.
The report cited sources as saying military personnel were being deployed to schools in Lhasa, Chamdo, and Nagchu cities in the TAR; Ngaba and Kyungchu counties in Sichuan province; Sangchu county in Gansu province; as well as other Tibetan regions in Qinghai province.