(TibetanReview.net, May06’26) – China is giving the word “harmony” a bad name, using it as as means to obliterate the civilizational identity of Tibet, starting by Sincizing the upbringing of the territory’s pre-school children, according to a 72-page report published May 4 by the international rights organizaton Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Titled as “Start with the Youngest Children: China Uses Preschools to ‘Integrate’ Tibetans”, the New York headquartered rights body notes that a 2021 Ministry of Education directive – the Children’s Speech Harmonisation plan – mandates the use of standard Mandarin Chinese for all preschool instruction in ethnic minority areas.
The report notes that although in theory kindergartens can still offer supplementary sessions for minority children in their own language, minorities no longer have the legal authority to organise them independently.
The report says that by severely restricting Tibetan-language education in early childhood – a critical stage for language acquisition and identity formation – the Chinese government is accelerating the erosion of Tibetan language and culture.
“The Chinese government, by targeting kindergarteners, is accelerating its campaign to deprive Tibetan children of their mother tongue and their culture and identity. This policy is not about education quality but about forcibly assimilating Tibetans at an early age into a Han-centric national identity,” Maya Wang, Deputy Asia Director at HRW, has said.
The report finds that China’s language policy is combined with intensified political and cultural indoctrination, with preschool curricula in Tibetan areas increasingly emphasising “patriotic education”, loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party, and identification as members of the “Chinese nation”.
“Children are taught to celebrate Han Chinese festivals, recite Chinese classics, sing patriotic songs, and participate in activities glorifying the military and revolutionary history. Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan cultural practices-core elements of cultural and ethnic identities are absent from the curriculum,” the report adds.
Whatever China may say about its language and assimilation policy being for the good of the Tibetan people and the Chinese nation, the report notes that its policies contravene its obligations under international human rights laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which guarantees children belonging to minorities the right to use their own language and requires states to ensure education respects children’s cultural identity.
The group has called on China to reverse policies mandating Chinese-medium education in preschools, restore genuine bilingual education options, and end political indoctrination in early childhood settings. It has also called on foreign governments and the UN to press Beijing to comply with its international obligations and to allow independent access to Tibetan areas and schools.
Wang has warned, “Language loss on the scale taking place in Tibet is not accidental – it is Chinese government policy. Unless China’s practices change, an entire generation of Tibetan children will grow up cut off from their own language, culture, and heritage.”