The International Campaign for Tibet calls on the Chinese government to end its attempts to indoctrinate Tibetan children and to respect their rights guaranteed by international law, such as the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which China has ratified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ICT President Tencho Gyatso said: \u201cTibetan children must not be subjected to and coerced into accepting the Communist Party\u2019s ideology. Education must not be indoctrination. We are concerned about the well-being of those children, who are at a young age and are forced to accept CCP ideology to replace their Tibetan cultural identity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n ICT\u2019s concerns grew even higher this month as a result of several Chinese state media reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On May 9, the \u201cLhasa Evening News\u201d reported that the Taktse (Chinese: Daze) District Propaganda Department organized a group tour<\/a> for 200 Tibetan middle school students to the \u201cMemorial Hall of the Emancipation of a Million Serfs in Tibet\u201d in Lhasa, an exhibition hall that propagates the CCP\u2019s view on the events in Lhasa of March 1959, when the Chinese military killed presumably tens of thousands of Tibetan protesters and forced the Dalai Lama into exile in India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A state-run newspaper reports that a guide at the Memorial repeating propaganda slogans that liken gratitude and loyalty to the Communist Party to drinking water, while the instructor to the children declared that \u201cTibet has been an inseparable part of the sacred territory of the motherland since ancient times\u201d and that \u201cold Tibet was under the rule of feudal serfdom under the banner of church and state.\u201d According to the report, the children were left with the impression that \u201cwithout the CCP, there would be no new socialist Tibet, not to mention the happy life of Tibetan people today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report explains that the next phase of propaganda activities aims to \u201cguide the students to feel the party\u2019s benevolence, listen to the party, follow the party, and strengthen the cultivation of moral, intellectual, physical and aesthetic development of socialist builders and successors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April, the United Work Front Department (UFWD), a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with focusing on the management of potential opposition groups outside the Communist Party, reported that authorities organized a poetry recitation competition for Gongkar County middle school<\/a> in Lhoka (Shannan) in the \u201cTibet Autonomous Region\u201d (which spans about half of Tibet) on the theme of \u201cNational unity and family, building the Chinese dream together\u201d on April 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, Namgyal Sholshang (Langjie Xuexiang) Primary School, also located in Gongkar, held a speech contest on April 19 with the theme of \u201cBuilding a Consciousness of the Chinese Nation Community\u201d to cultivate students\u2019 loyalty to the Communist Party. The children were required to express their loyalty to China as part of their belief in a better future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Images show children presumably at the age of 6 to 8 years old reciting from textbooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Primary school students at Namgyal Sholshang (Langjie Xuexiang) Primary School in Tibet recite Chinese Communist Party ideology. The banner on the upper and lower left read: \u201cStudy and implement the Spirit of the 20th Party Congress of Chinese Communist Party\u201d and \u201cConstructing the Consciousness of the Chinese National Community.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On May 9, the Tibetan service of the state-run \u201cChina National Radio\u201d reported that 32 Tibetan middle school students from Dhingri (Tingri) County in Shigatse (Rikaze) were taken for a weeklong \u201cpatriotic education\u201d tour<\/a> to Beijing, jointly organized by the Civil Affairs Department of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region and the \u201cCharity Federation of the Tibet Autonomous Region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The students were present at a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square and visited the National Museum, the China Monetary Museum and Beijing Aeronautics University, as well as the old Palace Museum and other places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A series of \u201cpatriotic educational activities\u201d similar to the Dhingri County middle schoolers\u2019 visit to Beijing are also planned for Tibetan children from other counties in the TAR, the report indicates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On May 5, the United Front Work Department reported that the Tsona (Cuona), Tibet Autonomous Region County Committee of the Communist Youth League and the County Comprehensive Cultural Service Center organized a speech competition<\/a> event for 33 contestants from a Tibetan youth group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The event, which representatives of the Party Propaganda Department, the United Front Work Department, the Youth League Committee, the Women\u2019s Federation, the Education Bureau and the Cultural Bureau attended as judges, tested the children on their understanding of the CCP and its policies with an emphasis on \u201cbuilding a solid awareness of the Chinese nation community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The report, in emphatic language, highlights \u201cemotional speeches\u201d given with \u201cvivid language.\u201d A group photo shows Tibetan students the ages of approximately 8 to 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students attend a \u201cspeech competition\u201d in Tsona County, Tibet Autonomous Region.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a joint meeting held between the Ministry of Education and Qinghai Province on April 13 to discuss educational reforms and development plans, the Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng expressed<\/a> \u201chis willingness to enhance cooperation\u201d with the provincial government to jointly implement the central government\u2019s decisions on educational reforms, which include prioritizing \u201cmoral education to ensure that the educational system is safe, stable, and firmly oriented towards socialism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Qinghai has some of the most populous Tibetan autonomous prefectures outside the TAR, making up 21.8% of the total Tibetan population in Tibet, according to the Sixth National Population Census (2010).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tibetan cultural and language education has suffered major setbacks in the last few years in the province, especially with the closure of reputed Tibetan private schools<\/a> and the imposition of a state-compiled curriculum and Chinese medium education following years of resistance from the Tibetan people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On November 29, 2022, the state-run \u201cTibetan.net\u201d, a Tibetan language culture and news website sponsored by the Party\u2019s media arm, reported<\/a> that all junior middle schools in Malho (Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai province, began imparting Party ideological and political work education in keeping with the 20th Party Congress agenda \u201cto establish socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.\u201d The report says furthering party political work and imparting political ideology and moral education is to be treated as the number one political responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cListen to the party, follow the party\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNational unity and family\u201d \u2013 Primary school students to recite party ideology<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cPatriotic education\u201d tours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\u201cExpress love for the Party and the Motherland\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nQinghai authorities: An educational system \u201cfirmly oriented towards socialism\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
National level<\/h4>\n\n\n\n