Violations concerning the content of education


CHAPTER 5


A. DENIAL OF EDUCATION ON TIBETAN CULTURE

Education's purpose is not only to teach a child reading, writing, calculation and some abstract academic knowledge. It should also enable the child to understand his or her cultural heritage so that the child can grow up to be a responsible member of his or her cultural group.

The policy of population transfer by the PRC in Tibet, with the result that Tibetans have become a minority people in their own land, carries grave portents for the survival of the unique Tibetan culture. Tibetans are today outnumbered by Chinese in many urban areas of Tibet. Tibetan children growing up in a Chinese-dominated environment may not be aware that their country has not always looked like this: full of communist-style concrete apartment blocks, karaoke bars, statues of Mao Tse Tung and armed police.

A particularly striking element of the children's testimonials was the extent to which they were simply unaware of Tibet, as a free country, and of Tibetan history, pre-1949. For many it came as an absolute shock to be told, only after reaching exile, that Tibet has not always been controlled by Chinese forces, that once they spoke only in Tibetan and openly worshipped the Dalai Lama.

As a States Party to the CRC, the PRC's obligations to safeguard children's rights extends equally to the cultural rights of Tibetan children. The Committee on the Rights of the Child proposed to China, in its suggestions and recommendations, "to ensure that children in the Tibet Autonomous Region ... are guaranteed full opportunities to develop knowledge about their own language and culture...˛.48

The CRC acknowledges that development of cultural identity, language and values should be incorporated into a child's education:

    Art. 29(1): States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
    c) the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilisations different from his or her own.

It was found that Tibetan children attending Chinese schools received almost no education about their cultural heritage. Of 38 Tibetan children interviewed who had been to school, only three reported to have had any education on Tibetan culture, religion or history.


Percentage of Children having received education on their cultural heritage

7 percent have received education on Tibetan culture
93 percent have not received education on Tibetan culture


Of these three, one went to a clandestine school operated by Tibetans which was not known to the Chinese authorities. Another went to a private school set up by a Tibetan Lama. This student was later arrested for attending this school and it was closed. The third student received information on Tibet from his Tibetan teacher only under the promise not to tell anyone about it. All three cases, by violating Chinese official school policy, posed great risk to both student and teacher.

Students were also asked about subjects they had studied in their Tibetan language classes. Almost all responded that they had read only stories about Mao Tse Tung, "great Chinese men"and the Chinese Revolution. While some students said that they had read stories in school about the architecture of the Potala Palace or some fables about Lhasa, this was the only Tibet-related education mentioned. Even in Tibetan language class there was virtually no information about Tibetan culture or history.

The students who had attended a middle school were asked what history they had been taught. All responded that they were taught only about Chinese history, with no reference to a Tibetan history. Some also said that they were told that Tibet had no history of its own and was always an integral part of China. None of the children, except for the one who went to a clandestine school, received any education about the religious heritage of Tibet.

    "In our Tibetan book all the stories were about Mao and his great doings. There was nothing about Tibet, the Dalai Lama or our history. The fact that I had to learn so much about Mao made me feel awkward; I knew that Mao was not a good man and that he had done a lot of cruel things to the Tibetans, but I had to learn these things anyway. In school we had to repeat those lies word for word or we were punished. Once in a while our Tibetan teacher taught us a little about Tibet, but he was very afraid and made us promise that we would not talk to anyone about this. Once in a while I read a Tibetan book about great Tibetan men and Tibetan kings, but I had to hide these books because if I was caught both myself and the author would have been punished severely."(A27)

    "In our Tibetan language book it said that 'our capital is Beijing'. Once I crossed out Beijing and wrote Lhasa. When the teacher read this he beat me severely."(A 7)

    "Neither my parents nor my Tibetan school teachers had ever told me anything about Tibetan culture or history. Suddenly my parents told me that it was time for me to leave Tibet and go to India. My first contact with Tibetan culture, history and religion was in the Tibetans Children's Village (TCV) in Dharamsala, India."(A 12)

    "The only Tibetan histories we read were fables about Lhasa."(A 13)

    "I did not have any subjects related to Tibetan history, culture or religion. The subjects for our Tibetan language classes came directly from Chinese books, translated into Tibetan. I would have liked to learn something about Tibetan culture; that's why I came to the TCV in India."(A 25)

    "The Rinpoche [a high lama] opened a private Tibetan school in my place. I had the opportunity to study Tibetan politics and Tibetan opera in this school for three years. After three years the Chinese authorities closed the school, telling us it was because this school made us serve Tibetan authorities as we did before 1959. The Chinese also told us that the Rinpoche who started the school was a fake Rinpoche and that he worked together with the Chinese. The Rinpoche was later put in prison by the Chinese. Two months after the school's closure I was put in prison for three days because, the Chinese told me, I had attended a very bad school. My parents had to pay bribes to get me out of prison."(A 31)


B. INDOCTRINATION

The use of indoctrination is an intrinsic part of China's grand plan to sinocise Tibetans. It is most effectively used on children who, in the process of developing their thoughts and character, are most easily influenced by the opinions propounded by those in authority. Teachers have a direct, extremely influential impact on the development of a student's beliefs. The purpose of education, on the other hand, is to allow a child to develop his or her own ideas and perceptions, as the CRC recognises:

    Art. 29(1): States Parties agree that the education shall be directed to: a) The development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential;

The Convention also states that:

    Art. 14(1): States Parties shall respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion Art. 13(1): The child shall have the right to freedom of expression

These principles are clearly violated where education takes the form of indoctrination. A child's freedom of thought and expression is necessarily restricted by an authoritarian system which imposes its own perception of "truth"upon students and punishes the child who diverges from the official ideology.

In the situation where a student must provide fixed answers to ideological questions in an exam, the child is not free to express his or her own thoughts. The student must conform to the theory which is supported by the State or face grave repercussions.

Sixty-eight percent of students questioned said that they felt indoctrinated at school. Some of the students interviewed had attended non-Chinese schools and some may not have been aware of the indoctrination due to their young age or a limited amount of objective information received. For these reasons this figure may be unrepresentatively low.

Topics of indoctrination varied. Most students reported that they were constantly taught about the greatness of Mao Tse Tung, Li Peng, Chinese socialism and China's achievements in general. Even the Tibetan language books covered Chinese subjects almost exclusively. The possibility of children dissenting from opinions provided in school books was completely unknown. Students reported that, if they chose not to answer ideological questions "properly˛, they risked failure or beatings.

    "I definitely felt indoctrinated. The Chinese history classes mainly dealt with the stories of the Chinese courageous kings and their kingdoms and how great China was. We always had to sing the Chinese anthem. If you did not sing, you would be severely punished."(A 41)

    " I felt indoctrinated at school because it was always Mao and Li Peng this and Deng Xiaoping that. Always the stories of their lives and how great they were. Every Monday morning we had to sing the Chinese national anthem. The singing of the anthem started at grade one. At that time I didn't know the Chinese national anthem at all and for this the teacher forced me to stretch out my lips and then he would hit my lips with a stick. We also had to wear red scarves when we went to school and so I would tie it a bit loose and then lose it at a certain time. My mother used to scold me when I lost my red scarf . Sometimes there was an announcement at school that on a certain day there would be a school assembly about Li Peng and then we were made to stay longer at school and listen to more stories telling us how great Li Peng was."(A 25)

    "The teachers told us that China is the power country and that China is a good country. Once I asked my teacher to explain to us more about Tibetan history and he got so mad at me for asking this question that he hit me with a big stick on my legs and head. If you failed the political questions asked in class you would not progress to the higher class. My parents also refused to explain anything to me about Tibet because they were afraid that the Chinese would get mad. My parents told me that the things to occupy myself with were not Tibetan politics. Politics was too dangerous; I had to be satisfied with talking about clothes, food and yaks."(A 42)

    "During the music lessons we had to sing more Chinese than Tibetan songs. We were made to sing texts like 'Long live Communist China' or 'The teachers are good people and they are here to help us'. Most of the Tibetan students did not sing these songs in class and we would be punished by the teachers, even the Tibetan teachers. They hit us on our backs and heads with wooden sticks. When Deng Xiaopeng died, the teacher put his picture in front of the class and told us that we had to mourn the death of the great Deng Xiaopeng. We were told that we had to cry in class but, when most of us did not cry, the teacher hit us badly with a wooden stick."

(A 29)

Tibetan students were constantly told that Tibet was an inferior country with a poor culture. Tibetan cultural values, Tibetan achievements and the Dalai Lama were constantly derogated while China was held out as the humanitarian saviour of the Tibetan people.

    "My parents have told me many stories about Tibet, the Dalai Lama, and how it was before the Chinese came. The Chinese teachers in school told us exactly the opposite: that the Dalai Lama was bad and a criminal and that Mao had freed Tibet. Because of the things my parents had told me, I knew that it was all fake."(A 13)

    "The teacher told us that 'China is better than all the other countries Š and all the Tibetans do not like the Dalai Lama. You should go home and tell your parents that the Dalai Lama is no good'."(A 32)

    "The teachers told us that we Tibetans would not exist without China's help for food."(A 46)

In some cases, the indoctrination was so effective that students were completely unaware of it:

    "In Tibet I never realised that I was indoctrinated but when I came to India and talked to my classmates I realised that all these stories about 'how China freed and saved Tibet from foreign influences' were just not true."(A 44)

    "I never felt indoctrinated during the lessons, because I never realised that there could be any explanation other than that of my teacher. I always trusted my teacher. In school no one told me anything about Tibetan culture, history or religion and my parents also never told me anything about my Tibetan background... I remember very well that I danced for Mao Tse Tung's birthday party and really liked doing that."(A 34)


C. SENDING OF TIBETAN STUDENTS OUTSIDE TIBET

As part of their systematic sinocisation policies, Chinese authorities send many of the top-ranking graduated Tibetan primary students to China where they attend special Tibetan classes attached to local secondary schools or one of the eighteen "Tibetan Secondary Schools" in China. While Tibetan students may receive better facilities at these schools, there is absolutely no chance of receiving any Tibet-related education.

Parents who come to visit their children are given strict instructions not to discuss the situation in Tibet, and those students who wish to leave school and return to Tibet find it extremely difficult to do so. When parents insist on removing their child, they will be made to reimburse the expenses incurred thus far for the child's education and the child's ration card will not be renewed, making him ineligible to join any government school in Tibet.

As of 1996, China stated that 29 provinces and municipalities in China had formed "Inland Tibetan Classes"with a total enrolment of 12,590 Tibetan students, including 6509 of lower middle school, 1604 of senior middle school, 3195 of secondary vocational schools and 1282 of secondary normal schools.60

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Last updated: 29-Sept-97