China uses colonial boarding schools for political assimilation: new report reveals exile community condemns unjust system - the statesman

US-based Tibet Action Group has come up with a new report that reveals that China is using colonial boarding schools for political assimilation and not for education access. The report says

that China has designed this system to assimilate Tibetan children. The report describes how these preschoolers from different regions of Tibet are separated from their parents and kept in

these boarding schools where the Tibetan language is banned and the practice of their religion or culture is prohibited even during school holidays. They are forced to learn only in the

Chinese language. The Tibetans in-exile have strongly condemned the execution of these colonial boarding schools by communist party of China. Namgyal Dolkar, member of Tibetan parliament

in-exile told ANI, “It is a report that has been out in public in front of the human rights advocates, an organisation for several years now. We are well aware of the fact that China has not

only signed but rectified many of the important international treaties, including those who are human rights and trade in many matters but what is crucial is the fact that a nation that has

signed those important treaties which includes protection of children and preservation of language. Nor is it just international treaties, but we have the Chinese constitution that talks

about protection of the language and the customs of the minorities which includes the Tibetans in the occupied Tibet. Advertisement “We are looking into a very very categorically, a planned

move that has been systematically set up by the Chinese communist party over the years of making sure that they are able to control the minds and brains of the Tibetans for many coming years

and we have known that over the years they have learnt to target the young minds of Tibetans within the occupied Tibet. We are looking into how they have learnt that it is important to be

able to control the narrative of the Tibetans for them to be able to embrace the so-called motherland China and the very motivated propaganda of Chinese Communist party to bring that

propaganda within the school system of making sure that they really grill it in the minds of the Tibetan children that you are a part of that so called motherland and that you are one of the

small fracture of that Chinese identity and you are not a Tibetan. Advertisement “That perhaps your identity does matter. I think they have brought that within the school system, they have

learnt that Tibetan children being within the embrace of their parents, their family leads to these children being brought up as pro Tibetan and that is a major threat to Chinese communist

party, hence they have now made it mandatory for any family member to enroll their children in those colonial boarding schools and the reason why we are calling it as colonial boarding

school exactly because of that sort of propaganda that is taught to the Tibetan children because it is entirely politically motivated…” Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist told ANI, “This is

62 pages report by Tibet Actions and the report is based on continued research and their search in Tibet how and what is unfolding ever since China has started to implement what is called,

is bilingual policy in certain areas from 2009 and in certain areas from 2012 and the following years. What Tibet action has found is almost about 100,000 children are being forcibly

indoctrinated in China’s colonial boarding schools in Tibet. These are the boarding schools in towns and cities and villages where there are direct access for the children to go to their own

homes. But China is not allowing to go to their homes. But these boarding schools are compulsory education process where children are kept in these boarding schools and given education only

in Chinese language. This is our fear that in the next 5, 10 or 15 years, Tibetan children may grow up only as Chinese knowing only Chinese language and therefore directly causing in

literal terms genocide in Tibet.”\ The report estimates that at least one lakh Tibetan children aged four to six are currently in boarding preschools across Tibetan areas. And more than nine

lakh children aged 6- 18 already known to be enrolled in such boarding schools. The exile community is seeking an intervention by the international community to pressure China.

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