Tibetan language classes banned in Kardze

Notification circulated by Education Bureau in September bans Tibetan language classes from primary to high secondary schools

The Bureau of Education of Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture issued a notification in early September this year forbidding Tibetan language classes from primary to high secondary schools in the prefecture.  

The recent notification follows a notice issued earlier in March, which banned Tibetan language classes from all middle schools in Kardze.

Tibetan teachers proficient in Mandarin have been assigned to teach classes in Chinese whilst those without the Chinese language skills have been marginalised into unemployment, leaving them to search for teaching jobs in neighboring Ngaba County. Others have been considering starting small businesses.

Students graduating this school year will be taking their final examinations at Ngaba Nationality Senior High School in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. They are the last graduates that will have ever studied Tibetan language in school in Kardze.