October 10, 2024
In a continued effort to enforce its Sinicization policies on Tibetan youth, Chinese authorities detained four Tibetan teenagers for resisting enrollment in government-run schools. The teens, aged 15 to 18, had previously been students at the Lhamo Kirti Monastery school in Dzoge County, Sichuan Province, where the curriculum was taught in Tibetan and included Buddhist teachings. The monastery school was abruptly closed by Chinese officials in July, with authorities citing a regulation that students under 18 were ineligible for monastic education.
Following the school’s closure, nearly 600 students were ordered to attend state-administered schools, where the language of instruction is exclusively Mandarin, and political indoctrination, such as “Xi Jinping Thought” classes, are emphasized. The four teens resisted the transfer to these schools and were detained on October 2. They were subjected to several days of “political re-education” before being released and forced to attend a government-run school.
This incident is part of a broader effort by the Chinese government to assimilate Tibetans into Han Chinese culture, which has been met with increasing international criticism. Since 2018, Chinese authorities have implemented policies forcing Tibetan children, including monks as young as five, to leave monasteries and attend state-run boarding schools. These schools, where instruction is in Mandarin, are seen by rights groups as tools for eroding Tibetan identity, language, and culture.
According to Tibetan sources, students who refuse to comply with the government’s orders are often detained, while those enrolled in state-run schools are subjected to political education and accusations of being “negatively influenced” by their families and monasteries. A local Tibetan resident, speaking anonymously for fear of reprisals, confirmed that several students were forced into re-education programs after resisting state schools.
Critics argue that China’s policy of replacing Tibetan language instruction with Mandarin is a deliberate attempt to weaken Tibetan cultural identity and sever generational ties. Children enrolled in Chinese boarding schools reportedly struggle to communicate with older relatives who grew up studying in Tibetan, fueling fears of a widening cultural and linguistic divide.
The detention of the four teenagers follows the forced enrollment of around 200 other former Lhamo Kirti Monastery students into state-run schools on October 2, marking another step in China’s sweeping efforts to impose its Sinicization agenda on future generations of Tibetans.
