Tibetan school year begins with classes taught only in Chinese

Tibetan children returning to their schools after winter break are now entering classes taught only in Chinese, as authorities push forward with policies that critics say are aimed at weakening students’ connection to their native language and culture. Teachers are also being given workshops on how to start teaching children in the Chinese language, a Tibetan source living in the region told RFA this week.

“The intention behind these changes is to brainwash the students,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“For example, in Tibet’s capital Lhasa, all the subjects in schools are now being taught in Chinese. I once asked the students in some of these schools what they thought about this, and most of them replied that they preferred being taught in Tibetan,” he said.

Textbooks have now all been translated into Chinese in the Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwestern China’s Qinghai province, the source said. “And except for classes on the Tibetan language itself, all other subjects like math, science and the fine arts are all being taught in Chinese.”

Read more