This same Chinese-language policy is also being pushed across Qinghai. Earlier in July, the Sengdruk Taktse Middle School in Darlag (Dari) County, Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous prefecture, Qinghai, was also forcibly closed. Rinchen Kyi, a long-serving teacher, was arrested on Aug. 1 for \u201cinciting separatism\u201d after holding a hunger strike mourning the school\u2019s closure.[2]<\/sup><\/a> After the school\u2019s closure, nearby Tibetan-instruction schools were also warned that they may face closure soon.[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Similar controls are being imposed on informal language classes. In November, all teachers and monasteries in Qinghai were banned from teaching Tibetan in informal classes over the winter holidays.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Tibetan scholar of education policy across Tibet (unidentified due to the sensitivity of this topic) argues the recent push to enforce Chinese-language instruction in all schools has roots in the 2008 protests that spread across Tibet. The scholar argues the 2008 protests instigated a more rigorous and accelerated shift in language education policy; one from a model that offered a Tibetan-language education stream (from primary to tertiary education in a few subjects) to a colonial education system that seeks to completely replace Tibetan language and culture altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This also aligned with official national language plans that sought to achieve Chinese-medium instruction in minority areas by the end of 2020; namely the National Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) and the Thirteenth Five Year Development Plan for National Language Works (2016-2020). It is notable that when Qinghai province launched its own education reform plan (2010-2020) in 2010, it was heavily resisted and protested by thousands of Tibetan students.[5]<\/sup><\/a> The policy was subsequently put on pause in Qinghai, but we may now be seeing the push to complete the planned policy actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While some rural areas, as well as small areas of Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu have been able to resist the shift to Chinese-language instruction with strong and well-organized communities, the independent scholar argues the shift has been broadly achieved across Tibet. They estimate at least 70% of schools across Tibet now use Chinese medium instruction. Sadly, the Tibetan scholar and additional sources suggest that the Tibet Autonomous Region, which spans most of western and central Tibet, has already completed the shift.[6]<\/sup><\/a> This may also be the reason why no school closures have been reported from inside the TAR. In the long run, observers believe the goal is to phase out Tibetan language study in five to 10 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another new policy has been employed in the last few years: Chinese-instruction preschool education. The nationalization of preschool education was launched across China in 2013, and according to the Tibetan scholar, a detailed Tibetan preschool policy was outlined in 2018-2019. The plan for Tibetan preschools sought to teach in the Chinese language only. According to the Tibetan scholar, this policy has a more sinister agenda that aims to replace Tibetan by mandating Chinese language fluency early. Students who do not pass a Chinese language test after preschool are not able to progress into grade one. This means parents who opt-out of Chinese-medium preschools, with an aim to focus on developing a strong Tibetan language foundation, cannot enroll their kids into year 1 if their child fails to pass a Chinese-language test. This hidden agenda is outlined in a 2014 report by the Chinese scholar Yao Jijun, who argued the aim of bilingual preschool education is to \u201cbetter integrate the Chinese language\u201d into Tibetan children as \u201ca means of eliminating elements of instability in Tibetan regions.\u201d[7]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is important to note that these recent policies\u2014preschool and Chinese-medium education\u2014are accelerated components of an existing multi-pronged policy to phase out Tibetan language education. For example, Chinese medium-education policies pre-date the 2008 protests, but primarily targeted schools in the TAR. They are now pushing harder in Tibetan regions outside the TAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another preexisting policy is the 2003 school consolidation policy, which replaced village schools with boarding schools in townships. This forced Tibetan children, from the age of 5, to live for at least five days per week away from their families in boarding schools.[8]<\/sup><\/a> While kids are allowed to visit home on weekends, it is rare that families can afford the travel costs. As children are taught in the Chinese language, they become disconnected from their families and are less able to understand and navigate Tibetan cultural environments. Tibetan parents and their children are barred from learning and using their language on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These recent school closures signal the final efforts to eliminate the remaining spaces of living Tibetan culture. They are consistent with China\u2019s \u201cSinicization\u201d agenda, which seeks to dilute Tibetan identity so that it does not tie Tibetans to each other, their land, history or culture. The end goal is to replace a Tibetan identity with a Han Chinese identity. Numerous policies and laws have been rolled out to this effect (see image 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tibetan Buddhist monasteries will also face renewed attacks on their education and training system. Religious regulations already enforce strict enrollment limits to prevent the spread and preservation of Tibetan Buddhist knowledge, culture, history and identity. However, a recent religious measure passed in Qinghai (Article 49)[17]<\/sup><\/a> was used to expel 80 young monks from Jakyung monastery and Ditsa monastery in Bayan County, Qinghai.[18]<\/sup><\/a> Authorities indicated minors could not receive a Buddhist education, which aligns with article 49 of the new measure, which specifies: \u201cit is prohibited to hold study tours, summer camps, retreat camps, etc., to spread religion to minors.\u201d[19]<\/sup><\/a> A report by Free Tibet notes that the young monks were forcibly returned to their homes and banned from wearing monk robes and attending school. It appears the Qinghai government is taking on a more proactive and assertive position, as the provision on minors is not featured in similar measures released in other provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These more aggressive policies suggest conditions in Tibet will deteriorate even further. A recent conference gathering of over 500 religious figures and students gives an insight into what the future may look like. Government officials at the Buddhist conference at Tso-Ngon Buddhist University in Qinghai recently announced, in the future all Tibetan Buddhist studies must be conducted only in Chinese\u2014not Tibetan\u2014and monks and nuns should only converse in Chinese.[20]<\/sup><\/a> Tibetan Buddhism may one day not even use the Tibetan language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Tibetan language captures the spirit of a people and their homeland. It carries the values and the collective knowledge of a distinct culture. It is the medium through which Tibet\u2019s 1,300-year history of literature is transmitted and preserved. Tibetan is \u201cone of the oldest and greatest in volume and most original literatures of Asia, along with Sanskrit, Chinese, and Japanese literatures,\u201d according to University of Provence professor Nicolas Tournadre.[21]<\/sup><\/a> At a Congressional hearing in 2003 on the Tibetan language and Tibet\u2019s future, David Germano of the University of Virginia forewarned, \u201cby losing the Tibetan language, the specifically Tibetan identity and world, the culture, insights, values and behaviors, is essentially consigned to the past.\u201d[22]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/report-image-890x459.png\")
End goal to phase out Tibetan language study<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Targeting pre-school children<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
An emboldened \u201cSinicization\u201d agenda<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/report-image-2.png\")
The threat to monasteries<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The importance of the Tibetan language<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The political climate<\/h4>\n\n\n\n