(TibetanReview.net, Sep10’24) – China has recently sacked over 1,700 young monks from three monasteries in a historically Tibetan region that is now part of its Sichuan province and force-enrolled them in government-run schools set up for the purpose of Sinicizing Tibetan children, said the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) on its Tibet.net website Sep 9. It has accused China of threatening all manners of punishment, including imprisonment, of parents resisting its move.
Over 1,700 young monks from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (or Ngawa, Chinese: Aba) county and two monasteries in Dzoege (Ruo’ergai) county, both in Ngaba Prefecture, had been forcibly ordered to leave monastic life and enrol in government-run colonial style boarding schools against the wishes and consent of the monks and their parents, said the CTA in a statement.
The statement said the policy is targeted at monks under the age of 18, particularly those studying in 1st to 8th grades.
“Children in these schools are primarily taught in Mandarin Chinese, leading to a loss of Tibetan language skills and cultural identity. They have also been prohibited from visiting their monasteries during school holidays, further severing their ties to Tibetan cultural and spiritual traditions,” the statement said.
Local Chinese authorities were stated to be threatening to revoke public benefits and even imprison parents who resist sending their children to these government-run boarding schools. The punishment was also stated to extend to restricting such Tibetans from building new houses on their own land and on nomads from increasing their livestock numbers.
The statement said these latest developments coincided with the July visit to the Tibetan counties of Karze, Ngaba and Kyungchu in the province by Wang Huning, a Politburo Standing Committee member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He has been the fourth-ranking leader of China since 2022.