In a deeply troubling escalation of China’s campaign against Tibetan culture, authorities in the so-called Ngaba Prefecture have forcibly removed young monks from the Taktsang Lhamo Monastic School. These children, many of whom had dedicated themselves to studying Tibetan language, spirituality, and culture, are being transferred to state-run schools, where education is heavily filtered to promote loyalty to Beijing. This action highlights yet another stark assault on Tibet’s linguistic and cultural heritage under the guise of “educational integration.”
According to the International Campaign for Tibet, the Taktsang Lhamo Monastic School in Ngaba, Amdo—officially Dzoge County, Sichuan Province—has faced repression for over two decades. Despite severe restrictions, it managed to keep its doors open for more than 500 young monks, maintaining Tibetan language and cultural studies. But that changed abruptly following the Ngaba Prefecture Education Development Conference in July 2024, a meeting that was less about education and more about enforcing a “community of the Chinese nation.” Officials at the conference rolled out new policies aimed at “integrating” education across ethnic lines—code for assimilating Tibetan children into a state-dominated, Han-centric education system.
This conference marked the beginning of a brutal enforcement campaign across the region: 69 Tibetan kindergartens have since been shut down, eight merged, and 33 had their categories arbitrarily altered, resulting in a sweeping erasure of Tibetan-focused education. Now, with these kindergartens shuttered, the crackdown has shifted to monastic institutions like Taktsang Lhamo.
Reports of how these transfers are being implemented reveal disturbing tactics. Students resisting transfer from monastery schools to government-run boarding institutions face detention, forced “political re-education,” and, in some cases, physical coercion. Witnesses report young monks, who have known only the monastic life, being forcibly put into vehicles and driven to state-run boarding schools where Tibetan language and cultural instruction is virtually nonexistent.
What may seem on paper like “educational reform” is in reality an outright cultural erasure. Under the guise of universalizing education, China is systematically dismantling institutions that preserve Tibetan language, values, and heritage. By chipping away at Tibetan-centered schooling, Chinese authorities aim to strip younger generations of their cultural identity, rendering them strangers to their own heritage.
The Taktsang Lhamo Monastic School has shown remarkable resilience in maintaining its mission despite these adversities. However, under the weight of Beijing’s relentless policies, even schools like Taktsang Lhamo are finding it increasingly impossible to survive. China’s so-called educational reforms are an existential threat to Tibetan identity, proving once again that Beijing’s real goal is not “integration” but cultural extermination.
