Compulsory assimilation of 1 million Tibetan children? Exclusive visit of foreign special observers to boarding schools in Tibet

Compulsory assimilation of 1 million Tibetan children? Exclusive visit of foreign special observers to boarding schools in Tibet
In February 2023, three "Special Rapporteurs on Minority Issues" serving the United Nations in their personal capacity issued a report claiming that China's assimilation of Tibetan people in terms of culture, religion, and language through boarding schools has affected approximately 1 million Tibetan children. Some Western media outlets have repeatedly criticized boarding schools in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
Are Tibetan children forced to attend boarding schools? Do children face "assimilation education" in the classroom? What are the real conditions for school food and accommodation?
In order to investigate the issues raised by Western media, An Ze, a foreign observer from "Close View of China", visited Lhasa, Tibet for an on-site investigation to clarify the truth.
This program takes you to visit boarding schools in Tibet.
Question 1
Are Tibetan students assimilated?
Lhasa Nagqu No.1 High School was founded in 2004 and is the first school in Nagqu City to operate in a different location in Lhasa.
The school currently has 3 grades, 43 classes, and 2345 students, making it a boarding high school. Anze came to a high school freshman class, and the students had just finished a Tibetan language class.
Anze: What is your favorite class?
Student: Tibetan and English
Anze: What is the lesson today about?
Student: Today's class mainly focuses on the top ten voices in our Tibetan language
Anze: Is it difficult?
Student: At the beginning of learning, it was quite difficult, but now I have adapted and mastered it almost.
Anze: I see that here you need to learn not only Tibetan, but also Chinese, English, and three languages. What kind of help do you think it will be?
Student: Can better communicate with people and speak to people of different races.
There are currently 27 Tibetan language teachers teaching at Lhasa Nagqu No.1 Senior High School.
Tibetan teacher Basang Ciren told Anze that the children here have been learning Tibetan since childhood. They mainly learn characters, words, and sentences in primary school, and grammar after middle school. In high school, they focus on learning tenses. Tibetan is learned at different ages and levels.
Special Observer Anze: There has been a saying in Western media reports that what we need to learn here is not only Tibetan, but also Chinese and English, which means we need to move towards "assimilation". Tibetan is completely placed in a weakened or diluted P0SITION. What do you think?
Tibetan teacher Basang Ciren: If it weakens and weakens, the most direct key is that the college entrance examination can cancel Tibetan and reduce scores. However, from before to now, the Tibetan exam has always been 150 points.
For such a long time, the content of Tibetan language education has been inheriting its own national culture. Even when our school schedules classes or expresses our grades, Tibetan language is placed at the forefront, which cannot be said to be diluted. It has always been highly valued.
Special Observer Anze: The United Nations report also states that the language used by students here is Mandarin, and then they no longer know how to speak Tibetan to their own families?


Tibetan teacher Basang Ciren: From elementary and middle school students to now