TWA starts a campaign to raise awareness about how Chinese policies affect Tibetan children.
The Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA) has launched a week-long awareness campaign traveling from Dharamshala to Delhi to address “Alarming situation for Tibetan children and the environment in Tibet” on Thursday.
The launch of the campaign coincided with the National Children’s Day. In a statement TWA highlighted the Chinese government’s violations of Tibetans’ basic human rights, repression of Tibetan Buddhism, forcibly evicting monks and nuns from monasteries, and that there are over 1 million Tibetan children aged 4-6 and 8-18 in the boarding school system, accounting for 78% of all Tibetan children.
The statement also mentions the severe environmental degradation in Tibet, particularly the construction of large dams on Tibetan rivers, which threatens the livelihoods of around 2 million people living downstream, and the resulting floods affecting neighbouring countries.
The Tibetan women’s group called on the Indian government to raise awareness about the Tibetan issue and the plight of Tibetan children and the environment in Tibet, and for Indian citizens to express solidarity with the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom through social media and other platforms. They have also urged Indian parliamentarians and local government representatives to raise the Tibetan issue in the Indian parliament.
In recent years, Chinese authorities have intensified efforts to suppress the Tibetan language and culture among the younger generation in Tibet. Tibetan children are forcefully admitted in the colonial boarding schools and are mandated to learn Mandarin while access to Tibetan language instruction is severely restricted. Young Tibetan monks are being forcibly enrolled in these schools, severing their connection to their monastic education and cultural heritage. This systematic approach aims to alienate the next generation of Tibetans from their cultural roots, embedding Chinese language and culture instead.
While Tibetan children in Tibet face severe restrictions, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in exile continues to prioritize the preservation of Tibetan language and culture. With nearly half of the Tibetan exile population now residing outside Asia, the CTA has emphasized the importance of engaging young Tibetans in learning their native language through community-driven weekend schools and cultural programs.
In a message for Children’s Day, the Education Kalon (Minister) of the CTA Tharlam Dolma emphasized the importance of language preservation. She stated, “Mastery of the Tibetan language is essential not only for individual growth but also for the preservation of our unique cultural heritage. Tibetan students in exile have the rare privilege to study and use our language—a right denied to their counterparts in Tibet.”