cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/49451379
The number of Tibetan students sent to study in classes especially set up for them in schools in various provinces of China has increased in recent years in keeping with Beijing’s intensified drive to Sinicize Tibet and set a new record last year, reported the Tibetan-language tibettimes.net Jan 19, citing Chinese government sources. The number of such classes has also seen a sharp increase in order to accommodate the additional students.
The report cited a recent announcement from the Shigatse City government, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), as saying that in 2025, a total of 10,500 students from across Tibetan regions were enrolled in Tibet Classes set up in schools in provinces and provincial-level cities across China. It was stated to have been announced as the highest number of enrolment of Tibetan students in such classes in such schools in China thus far.
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Data from the Education Bureau of the TAR government was stated to show that in 2025, a total of 2,000 Tibetan students were enrolled in junior middle school classes in China with the total number of classes increased to 150. Likewise, a total of 4,500 Tibetan students were stated to have been enrolled in senior middle school classes in China and the number of such classes increased to 205. Also, a total of 4,000 Tibetan students were enrolled in middle vocational education schools in China with the number of such classes increased to 223.
Among those enrolled in senior middle school classes, a total of 3,215 were stated to have been from TAR and the remaining 785 from Qinghai. Qinghai constitutes the bulk of the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo (or Domey).
All this was stated to have been in keeping with plans to increase the number of Tibetan students sent to China to 10,500 and the number of Tibet class students in schools set up in China to 578.
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China expanded its policy to enrol students from Tibet in such schools in 2023, with their numbers increased by 9.9% each successive year.
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It was in 1984 that China took the decision to set up classes in schools in China for students from Tibet, claiming education in Tibet was backward; that there was paucity of skilled people there. The first of such classes were set in schools in 16 provinces and province-level cities in China.
The programme was continuously expanded over the following four decades.
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A total of 180,000 Tibetan students have studied in those schools thus far, the report said.
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Meanwhile, Choktrul Dorje Ten Rinpoche, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist leader, was detained by Chinese authorities back in December last year under unknown circumstances as Chinese authorities shuttered yet another Tibetan language school, as reported by the rights group International Campaign for Tibet (ICT).
Although [Chinese] authorities have not provided an explanation of any alleged wrongdoing by Choktrul Dorje Ten, ICT sources believe the detention is linked to Chinese government policies targeting privately-run schools which provide Tibetan-language instruction at a time when Chinese authorities are attempting to undermine Tibetan education in favor of Chinese.