Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Oct. 10: Chinese authorities have forcibly detained four Tibetan students, aged 15 to 18, for refusing to attend a state-run boarding school following the closure of the Buddhist primary school at Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge County, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The students have been subjected to “political education” as part of the government’s efforts to enforce attendance at state-run institutions.
The Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery School was shut down on October 1, coinciding with China’s National Day celebrations. On October 2, authorities forced more than 200 students, aged 15 to 18, to attend state-run schools in Dzoge County as part of China’s compulsory education policy, marking the complete closure of the monastery school. Starting in July, over 300 younger students, aged 6 to 14, had already been forcibly transferred to various state-run schools in the county.
Currently, students are forcibly enrolled at Dzoge County Residential Primary School, Zhakdom Primary School, Lhamo Middle School, and Dzoge County Middle School.
In September, parents were forced to sign a document titled the “School Enrolment Declaration Notice.” This document, mandated by Article 16 of China’s Law on the Protection of Minors, requires parents to ensure their children attend school. If parents are unable to fulfill their guardianship duties, they must designate another adult to take over. This requirement was reportedly imposed on parents through coercion and other forms of pressure.
The forcibly enrolled young monks are being educated primarily through Chinese textbooks. However, they are also receiving separate political education sessions focused on Chinese politics and ‘Xi Jinping’s Thought,’ according to an anonymous source inside Tibet.
Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery, founded in 1986, has historically offered a special curriculum for young monks before their formal Buddhist studies. In 1993, the monastery established the Taktsang Lhamo School of Tibetan Culture, which was forcibly shut down by Chinese authorities in 2003. The monastery later reopened its primary school, but increasing restrictions on monastic education in Tibet, especially since 2008, have led to its closure once again.
