In 2025, Chinese authorities transferred more than 10,000 Tibetan students from Tibetan areas to government-run “Tibet Classes” located in major Chinese cities, according to official statements and Tibetan-language media reports. The scale of the program this year is the largest since the initiative began in the 1980s, underscoring a long-term state strategy to educate Tibetan youth outside their homeland under a Mandarin-dominant, state-directed system.
The policy, formally known as the Inland Tibet Classes (内地西藏班), involves relocating Tibetan students primarily from the Tibet Autonomous Region and neighbouring Tibetan areas such as Amdo to boarding schools and secondary institutions across China. In 2025 alone, authorities established five new Tibet Class schools in large Chinese cities. These included 150 lower secondary classes enrolling around 2,000 students, 205 upper secondary classes with about 4,500 students, and 223 vocational secondary classes enrolling roughly 4,000 students. Of the total intake, 3,215 students were from the Tibet Autonomous Region and 785 from Amdo Province(Qinghai), according to regional education authorities.
Chinese officials describe the program as an effort to “improve educational quality” and address what they call structural disadvantages in Tibetan regions. However, critics and Tibetan analysts argue that the initiative functions primarily as a political and cultural project aimed at long-term assimilation.
Dawa Tsering, a former official and Tibetan policy researcher interviewed by Tibetan media, stated that the program has been operating for decades under the narrative that Tibetans are “backward” due to religion and geography. “Tibetan students, usually in their teens or early twenties, are taken to China and educated in an environment centered on Chinese culture, ideology, and values,” he said. “They may not completely lose their Tibetan identity, but they are systematically separated from Tibetan language, culture, and community for long periods.”
Students transferred under the program are typically enrolled in full-time boarding systems, limiting contact with their families. Instruction is conducted primarily in Mandarin, with Tibetan language instruction either minimal or absent. Analysts note that prolonged exposure to this system often makes it difficult for students to reintegrate into Tibetan-language social and cultural life upon return.
After graduation, many students are assigned jobs or official posts within Tibetan areas by the state. Authorities present this as a contribution to local development. Critics argue, however, that this placement strategy serves a dual purpose: deploying Mandarin-educated Tibetans into local governance and institutions while leveraging their ethnic identity to gain trust within Tibetan communities. “Because they are Tibetan and educated, they are seen as role models,” Dawa Tsering said. “But their training and professional outlook are deeply shaped by Chinese state ideology.”
Investigations by Tibetan media indicate that top-performing students are preferentially selected for inland programs and provided with free education, accommodation, food, and organised travel to major Chinese cities during holidays. These incentives, critics say, further distance students from Tibetan language and cultural practice during formative years.
Official Chinese data show that since 2023, the expansion of Tibet Classes and related secondary programs has accelerated. Over the three-year period leading up to 2025, enrolment reportedly increased by 9.9 percent. More than 70 percent of students come from farming and pastoralist families, largely from remote border and high-altitude areas. Authorities summarise the policy framework as “three increases” (growth in boarding students, annual intake, and number of schools), “three coverages” (coverage of all Tibetan ethnic groups, all border counties, and all designated support cities), and “one integration,” referring to expanded vocational and technical training at the upper-secondary level.
The inland Tibet Classes program dates back to 1984, when Beijing began promoting it as a solution to what it described as underdevelopment and a shortage of skilled professionals in Tibetan areas. Today, according to official figures, there are 129 such schools spread across 23 provinces and around 60 cities in China, with approximately 25,000 Tibetan students currently enrolled. Authorities claim that more than 180,000 students have graduated from these programs to date.
A key policy document issued by China’s State Council in 1996, titled “Request Regarding Issues Related to Expanding the Scale of Inland Tibet Classes (Schools)”, explicitly defined the program as a political task, calling for strict organization, high-level coordination, and strong state support to ensure its success.
While Beijing continues to frame the program in terms of modernization and development, Tibetan observers and international rights groups view the scale and structure of the initiative as part of a broader strategy of cultural and linguistic assimilation. The record-level transfer of students in 2025 has renewed concerns that education is being used not merely as a social policy tool, but as a central mechanism for reshaping Tibetan identity over generations.
