In Tibet, the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) is forcing schoolchildren to attend military training camps during a summer vacation break, according to an RFA report. The Chinese military camps have been denying Tibetan students the opportunity to learn their local Tibetan language, according to a report citing sources.
China’s ruling Communist Party (CPC) is training kids aged 8-16 in two camps in southern Tibet’s Nyingtri region, also known as the Kongpo region, to focus on the CPC’s ideology and teach them the finer points of the Chinese military. During the Young Tibetan Snow Hawk Military Summer Camp and the Tibet Rong He Military Training Center, where kids learned Chinese culture and patriotism, soldiers trained with the purpose of weakening Tibetan cultural learning among the population. Tibetan kids who attended military camps also missed out on the chance to learn their own language.
‘In Lhasa at this time of school break, Tibetans are not permitted to hold private classes to learn Tibetan, and so they are forced by the Chinese authorities to attend military programs where they receive political education instead,’ RFA quoted a Tibetan resident as saying. Researchers at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibet Policy Institute told the broadcaster that the Chinese military camps deprived Tibetan children of opportunities to learn their own culture and language privately, which is crucial to preserving the Tibetan national identity. Otherwise, these kids attend Tibetan schools and monasteries during the summer breaks to hone their language, but now they are asked to learn about military programs.
Implanting China’s ideology
According to Tenzin, China is trying to brainwash Tibetan youngsters by sending them to camps that will weaken Tibetan culture. In military camps set up along the Tibetan border with India last year, where border skirmishes broke out in Ladakh, the Chinese Communist Party has been instilling its own ideology and nationalism into young Tibetan students.
Read more: World’s richest village, Wealthier than the urban populace: Know more about the Indian Village
Earlier this year, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that it would extend Mandarin teaching to preschoolers and eliminate minority languages such as Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur. ‘National Mandarin-medium education will be promoted in accordance with general secretary Xi Jinping’s directives’, a guideline from the ministry of education said. China occupied Tibet in 1950 and exercised control over Tibet while the Dalai Lama seeks Tibet’s independence.
Post Your Comments