The Chinese authorities, as part of their suppression of Tibetans’ basic rights, have taken aim at privately run educational institutions that promote Tibetan language and culture.
In July 2024, the government closed the Jigme Gyaltsen Vocational High School, affiliated with Ragya Monastery, in the Golok grasslands of Qinghai province in eastern Tibet. This caused consternation among many Tibetans. The school had a prestigious three-decades-long record of teaching Tibetan language and culture, as well as the Chinese national curriculum, equipping students with a knowledge of their own language and heritage as well as skills for modern employment. The school had been operating with official approval.
In December 2024, exile media reported that Humkar Dorje Rinpoche, a high lama from the same region who founded a similar vocational school with official permission in 2007, had been missing for a month, presumably forcibly disappeared in police custody. Local people were especially concerned for his well-being because in May the authorities had detained another senior lama and educator from the region, Khenpo Tenpa Dargye, along with some 20 followers. One of the detainees, community leader Gonpo Namgyal, was released on December 15 and died three days later, apparently due to mistreatment in custody.
At least five similar vocational schools in eastern Tibet have been closed down since 2021, apparently without specific reasons being given.
Authorities have insisted that all students attend state schools. There, Tibetan children are now taught only in Chinese from primary to high school levels; such language policy has even been introduced in pre-primary schools. While Tibetan is still taught, it is now a stand-alone subject, much like a foreign language. This is contrary to the Chinese Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which guarantee the right to mother-tongue education.
Tibetan children in state schools are also subjected to a high degree of political education and, according to recent reports, military training. In January 2023, four United Nations special rapporteurs issued a statement of serious concern over China’s language and education policies in Tibet. The Chinese government has yet to provide a meaningful response.