Three Tibetan schools shut in Qinghai’s Golog; concerns rise over language and cultural education

New Delhi: The recent closure of three Tibetan schools in Qinghai province’s Golog region has left hundreds of students and teachers without a clear path forward, renewing concerns that Tibetan-language education is being steadily squeezed out, a report said.

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the Gangjong Grassland Girls’ School, Jasag Village Primary School and Golog Tadra Orphan School were closed in recent months. Tibetan sources cited by the outlet linked the shutdowns to Beijing’s education policies and the Ethnic Unity and Progress Law, which took effect on July 1.

Chinese officials have said schools are being moved out of Golog because of the area’s high altitude and shortages of teachers and resources. But the report said students and their families had not been told where they would be able to continue their studies.

A source told RFA that schools in the region were now conducting an intensive patriotic re-education campaign. The source added that Tibetans were wary of speaking out because of restrictions imposed by the authorities.

The Gangjong Grassland Girls’ School in Machen County, which had around 450 students and 60 teachers, was shut on August 28. Jasag Village Primary School, established in 1995 using funds raised by local nomadic families, closed in September. The Golog Tadra Orphan School, which has educated Tibetan orphans and children from poor families for two decades, was ordered to shut this month.

Tibetan educational sociologist Gyal Lo told RFA that the government viewed community-run Tibetan schools as a threat because they allowed Tibetans to learn and pass on their own language and culture.

“The Chinese government sees schools where Tibetans can organise themselves to learn and teach their own culture as a thorn in its side. That is why these schools are being abolished,” he said.

Gyal Lo said the closures could push children into state-run boarding schools, where teaching is conducted entirely in Chinese and the curriculum is controlled by the state.

“The aim is to turn the entire Tibetan people into Chinese. This is not limited to a small area; it is a plan with far-reaching consequences,” he said.

Tenzin Lekshey, spokesperson for the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, said Beijing saw Tibetan schools and monasteries as obstacles to its policies rather than institutions that protect Tibetan identity.

“The Chinese government is doing all this out of fear,” Lekshey told RFA.

The latest shutdowns follow the closure of several other Tibetan institutions in Golog. Gangjong Sherig Norling School was shut in July 2024, Dorjeten National Vocational School in December 2025 and Hungkar Dorje Vocational Secondary School in June this year.

At the same time, authorities opened a new state-run boarding school, Golog Tsoshar Middle School, with 1,200 students on September 1, according to the report.

(Inputs from IANS)