Racial Discrimination in Tibet (2000)
Discrimination in Education
Tibetan Schooling Outside the "TAR"
One alternative to the problem of education within Tibet
has been, for many parents, to send their children to
one of the institutions set up for Tibetans in interior
China. This has always had strong financial backing from
the central government, (which sees this as the best way
to enforce loyalty to the motherland), and since 1985, 18
provinces and municipalities in the Chinese interior have
established junior and senior secondary schools as well
as technical/vocational training for Tibetans. According
to a 1995 Xinhua report, 13,000 Tibetan primary school
graduates had enrolled in these schools since 1985,
and at the time 10,000 were enrolled, representing 28%
of all Tibetans in secondary education.
This system is not without its problems however, which
include the loss of a family environment, mother tongue
and culture; problems of reintegration on return; high
fees and transport costs, and the fact that a lot of
the money used to fund the program actually comes from
the budget for education within the "TAR". For some or
many of these reasons, most concerned parents therefore
resort to sending their children into exile across the
border. According to TIN reports, an estimated 700 children
cross the Himalayas per year, often unaccompanied, in the
hope of getting a better education. Of the 2,474 Tibetans
who fled their country in 1999, 1,115 were below the age
of 18 (approximately 47%). The fact that many die along the
way indicates the terrible desperation that these families
feel in trying to attain what discrimination denies them.
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