NEW DELHI: A recent report by the Tibetan Action Institute (TAI) reveals that over one million Tibetan children and adolescents have been forcibly placed in Chinese government-run boarding schools in occupied Tibet. Among them, at least 100,000 are preschoolers aged between 4 and 6 years, the report states, highlighting a systematic effort by China to assimilate Tibetan youth and erase their cultural identity.
The findings are based on accounts from parents whose children are subjected to abuse, neglect, and indoctrination in a vast network of educational institutions operated by the Chinese government in Tibet. The report sheds light on how Tibetan children are being deprived of their heritage and forcibly integrated into the state-controlled system.
"As China seeks to manipulate the institution of the Dalai Lama by interfering with the reincarnation process, it is simultaneously targeting the future of Tibet through policies that threaten its survival as a distinct culture," the TAI statement noted.
Dr. Gyal Lo, a Tibetan sociologist who contributed to the report, described the initiative as “student colonisation” — a deliberate strategy to erase the 4,700-year-old Tibetan culture. Dr. Lo, who fled Tibet in 2020, is now engaged with the Tibetan Action Institute.
'Student Colonisation' Strategy Dr. Lo estimated that at least 100,000 preschool-aged Tibetan children have been separated from their families in rural Tibet and placed into state-run boarding schools. Additionally, the report notes that around 900,000 children aged 6 to 18 are housed in these institutions.
The report also reveals that monks and nuns under 18 are forcibly transferred to these schools as part of the same assimilationist policy. During his fieldwork in Tibet, Dr. Lo visited over 50 boarding preschools in the Amdo and Kham regions and found that around 100,000 Tibetan children are currently living in residential institutions across the region.
Indoctrination and Identity Erasure The TAI report paints a grim picture of the educational environment in these institutions. It states that the indoctrination process begins at an early age, with children prohibited from speaking their native Tibetan language and being forced to learn Chinese. They are also taught state-approved history, focusing on the centrality of Chinese identity, culture, and the importance of the Communist Party of China.
The report further emphasizes that these boarding schools serve not only as places of education but as tools for cultural and identity erasure, systematically stripping Tibetan children of their heritage and imposing Chinese state ideologies.
The Chinese government’s policies in Tibet have drawn increasing international criticism for their role in suppressing Tibetan culture and traditions. The report serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing human rights violations in the region, particularly the targeting of the younger generation, which is seen as crucial to the survival of Tibet’s unique identity.
