(TibetanReview.net, Aug26’21) – As the juggernaut of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Sinicization campaign rolls across occupied Tibet, it has come to light that a privately founded but publicly run Tibetan school in what is now part of China’s Sichuan Province has become yet another one to be ordered to provide classroom instruction exclusively in Chinese or face imminent closure, according to the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Aug 25.
The Gyalten School, set up in Tehor Dhargay Rongpa Tsal sub-district of Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was founded in 1994 by prominent Buddhist leader Tulku Gyalten Lobsang Jampa.
Though founded by a Tibetan lama, the school was registered and administered under the Chinese government like any other government-run school, the report cited a local source as saying in a written anonymous message.
In keeping with the order to Sinicize the school’s curriculum, the school’s annual entrance exams this year were held in Chinese, the source has said.
The school has been holding classes up to the sixth grade and taught Tibetan, English, Chinese, math, science, and vocational training subjects.
The school’s founder Tulku Gyalten Lobsang Jampa is vice-chair of the Buddhist Association of Sichuan and a member of China’s National People’s Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament, the report noted.
