Experts accuse China of trying to ‘deTibetanize’ Tibetans through education policy

During an international webinar held on Monday, Tibetan experts raised serious concerns over the growing interference of the Chinese government in the education system of Tibet. According to a report by Tibet Press, experts held an extensive discussion on “China Using Education as the Last Tool of Colonizing Tibetan Minds”. They noted that Beijing is trying to ‘deTibetanize’ the Tibetan people by brainwashing students during the webinar. Moreover, they highlighted how the Chinese Communist government launched a movement through a chain of residential schools.

As per Karma Tenzin, a Research Fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute (TPI), the destruction of Tibet began a long time ago when Mao Zedong was the President of the country. The researcher noted that Zedong started destroying the education system in the name of the cultural revolution. Later, the former president completely changed the education system of Tibet and tried to implement a new Chinese educational policy. At that time, China’s main intention was to eliminate the Tibetan language and to impose Chinese Mandarin as a medium of education and instruction for Tibetan students.

“The youngsters were being taught biased and wrong history lessons where Tibetans were portrayed as inferior to the Chinese masters. It acted as a sheer tool to colonize the Tibetan minds,” as per the research.

Tibetans were forced to adopt the Chinese communist identity, say researchers

Meanwhile, Eleanor Byrne-Rosengren, co-founder of ‘Tibet Solidarity’, found in her report that over 86,000 Tibetan children were coerced into joining Chinese boarding schools and forced to separate themselves from their family members. His research found that books were designed in such a way that students could abolish their cultural identity.

The research claimed that the Tibetans were forced to adopt the Chinese communist identity. However, the forceful education did not turn fruitful for the Chinese government, resulting in a backlash between the local people and the Chinese government. “After having failed to win the hearts of their Tibetan subject even after seven years of colonial rule, the Chinese masters of Tibet cannot cope with the fact that such Tibetan youths who have never seen or heard of Dalai Lama or a free Tibet in their lifetime, are in the forefront of demonstrations and self-immolations against the Chinese rule over Tibet, “said John Jones, human rights organization of ‘Free Tibet’.

Image: AP