Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Sept. 23: Dr. Gyal Lo, a Tibetan educational sociologist and prominent researcher who has documented and exposed China’s state-run residential school system across occupied Tibet, has been honoured by the International Tibet Network (ITN) with the Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Medal of Courage.
The honour recognises his efforts to document and raise international awareness of the impact of China’s assimilation policies on Tibetan language, culture, and identity. “Dr Gyal Lo’s tireless work has helped to raise international awareness and push back against China’s assimilationist policies,” ITN stated.
“For years, Dr Gyal Lo has carried out the monumental task of documenting China’s colonial boarding school system in Tibet. He visited schools, collected educational resources and witnessed for himself how Tibetan children have been affected by these boarding schools and boarding pre-schools. In recent years, he has travelled the world, addressing governments and the United Nations to warn about the devastating effects of this policy,” ITN added.
Born in Tibet, Dr. Gyal Lo completed his early education in his home region before earning a master’s degree in Tibetan Language and Culture from Northwest Minzu University (formerly Northwestern University for Nationalities) in Lanzhou, China. In 1995, he was appointed Assistant Professor in the same department, where he taught for the next decade and conducted extensive academic research on Tibetan education.
Dr. Gyal Lo later left China to pursue a Master of Education and a PhD in the Sociology of Education at the University of Toronto, Canada. Upon returning to China in 2015, he was denied reemployment at his former institution due to political sensitivities surrounding his time abroad and Western academic training.
His return to Tibet also brought him into direct contact with the experiences of his two grandnieces, who had been enrolled in a newly developed mandatory pre-boarding school. These schools, introduced for Tibetan children as young as four to six years old, operated alongside residential boarding schools serving children aged six to eighteen. Concerned by the effects of the pre-boarding system on his grandnieces, Dr. Gyal Lo undertook five years of academic fieldwork, visiting more than 50 Tibetan boarding schools and documenting their impacts on children, families, and Tibetan communities.
Alongside his research, Dr. Gyal Lo served as a Full Professor at the Institute for Studies in Education at Yunnan Normal University from 2017 to 2020. Three years into his five-year contract, however, his position was terminated amid a worsening political climate in China. He was dismissed on the grounds that he was a “foreign Tibetan with a Western background” and was considered a potential political risk. He left China on December 31, 2020, and has chosen not to return due to the risks associated with conducting independent research on Tibetan education and society.
After resettling in Canada, Dr. Gyal Lo began speaking publicly about the threats facing Tibetan society and became an advocate for the preservation of Tibetan language, religion, culture, and rights. Drawing on his academic research and firsthand documentation of China’s colonial boarding-school system in Tibet, he has sought to raise international awareness of its impact on Tibetan children and communities.
In February 2023, he testified before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Canadian House of Commons, sharing his extensive knowledge and research on China’s boarding-school system in Tibet. Dr. Gyal Lo is the author of Social Structuration in Tibetan Society: Education, Society, and Spirituality (Lexington Books, 2016).
The ‘Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Medal of Courage’, presented annually on the anniversary of his passing, honours the enduring legacy and moral courage of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. The award recognises Tibetan human rights defenders who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to advancing the freedom and fundamental rights of the Tibetan people, often at great personal risk and sacrifice.
Over the years, the medal has been awarded to individuals and groups who embody this spirit of courage, resilience and non-violent resistance. Recipients have included imprisoned retired physician Yeshi Choedron (2016); Tibetan language rights advocate Tashi Wangchuk (2017); filmmakers Dhondup Wangchen and Golog Jigme (2018); the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima (2019); environmental activist A-Nya Sengdra (2022); imprisoned businessman Dorjee Tashi and his sister Gonpo Kyi (2023); Dege protesters who opposed the Kamtok hydropower project (2024); and the late Tulku Hungkar Dorjee.
