(TibetanReview.net, Nov08’23) – An ethnic Middle School in Yushu (Tibetan: Yulshul) prefecture in Qinghai Province, most of which constitutes the bulk of the historical Tibetan province of Amdo (or Domey), has told parents and teachers in Sep 2023 that they have a legal duty to teach and educate their wards not to believe in religion. They were told that this was necessary for the realization of the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, reported bitterwinter.org, the website of a magazine on religious liberty and human rights, Nov 8.
The report said the obligation was driven home in a letter sent by Yushu City 2nd Ethnic Middle School to all parents of its pupils, of whom over 90% were stated to be Tibetans.
The letter, dated Sep 4 and written in Chinese, is seen to prohibit parents from involving minors in religious activities as the country aimed at “educating them not to believe in religion.”
The letter is seen to remind parents that “minors are the future of the motherland, the hope of the nation, and the main force to realize the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
It calls the legal provisions of adhering to the principle of separation of education and religion a specific embodiment of the implementation of the Party’s education policy and the need for a healthy growth of minors. “Educating minors not to believe in religion is an obligation for both schools and parents.”
The letter outlines three means to be adopted or steps to be taken to implement this prohibition policy.
The first is to oppose any organization or individual trying to guide, support, allow, or condone minors to worship and participate in religious activities. The letter justifies this under Article 36 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China which stipulates: “No one shall use religion to carry out activities that disrupt social order, damage the health of citizens and interfere with the national education system.”
The letter accordingly makes it clear that “No one, especially children under the age of 18, should be submitted to religious education.”
The second is to prevent minors from believing in religion as a guarantee for children to grow up healthily and achieve a better future. This is emphasized as important for “establishing a correct world outlook, and outlook on life and values” in minors who are at a critical stage of physical and mental development. “The influence of extremist thoughts affects their physical and mental health and future,” the letter says.
The third point imposes responsibility and obligation on every parent as “first teacher of their children” to educate them not to believe in religion. It requires parents to become examples for their children to abide by the law. “Both religious and non-religious parents should educate their children not to enter places of religious activities, not to participate in religious activities, not to participate in religious training courses and summer camps,” the letter says.
The letter calls on “parents and friends” to join hands and take proactive action to “build the Great Wall to resist and prevent religious infiltration into the school, maintain the harmony and stability of the school, and help it make its due contribution to the long-term stability of the motherland.”