China intensifies crackdown on Tibetan schools, forcibly replacing heritage with state-controlled education

The Chinese government has targeted private-owned educational institutes that support Tibetan language and culture as part of their repression of Tibetans’ fundamental rights.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the Jigme Gyaltsen Vocational High School, which was connected to Ragya Monastery, in the Golok grasslands of Qinghai province in eastern Tibet was shut down by the government in July 2024.

The report by HRW highlighted that the school has a distinguished three-decade history of teaching Tibetan language and culture in addition to the Chinese national curriculum, giving children the skills they need for modern jobs as well as an understanding of their language and heritage.

Humkar Dorje Rinpoche, a senior lama from the same area who established a comparable vocational school in 2007 with government approval, was reported missing for a month in December 2024 by exile media as cited by HRW. He was presumably forcibly disappeared in police custody.

Local residents were worried for his well-being as the authorities in May had detained another senior lama and educator from the region, Khenpo Tenpa Dargye, along with some 20 followers. After being freed on December 15, community leader Gonpo Namgyal, one of the inmates, passed away three days later, perhaps as a result of abuse while in detention.

In eastern Tibet, at least five comparable vocational schools have been shut down since 2021, ostensibly without providing a cause as reported by HRW. All students are required to attend state schools, according to authorities.

Tibetan children there are now educated exclusively in Chinese from elementary school through high school; pre-primary institutions have even adopted this language policy. Similar to a foreign language, Tibetan is now taught as a separate subject, however, instruction in it is still provided. This goes against both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Chinese Constitution, which both protect the right to receive an education in one’s mother tongue, said the HRW report.

According to recent reports as cited by HRW, Tibetan youngsters attending official schools also receive extensive political instruction and military training. Four UN special rapporteurs expressed grave concerns about China’s language and educational practices in Tibet in January 2023.