The Stick Must Stop: Ending Corporal Punishment in Our Tibetan Schools

There is a child in a Tibetan classroom right now who is afraid. Not afraid of failing an exam, not afraid of disappointing their parents, but afraid of their teacher’s hand, or a ruler, or a stick. That child is sitting in silence, learning something no curriculum ever intended to teach that authority means pain, and that love and violence can coexist in the same room.

I am not speaking in abstractions. I am speaking about children I know. Children in our community. Children in schools that carry our community’s name and our community’s hope.

I have seen this with my own eyes and felt it in my own home.

My wife’s brother’s son attended Peton Gangkyi School. One of his teachers, as punishment, drew on his face and made him stand in front of the class while his classmates were encouraged to laugh at him. When I heard this, I was shaken to my core. I urged the family to file a formal written complaint. But they were afraid and rightly so. Because everyone who has lived inside this system knows what happens when you complain: the teacher singles out your child. The punishment doesn’t stop. It gets quieter, and it gets worse.

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