The students had been attending a Buddhist monastery school that was shuttered in July.

-by Radio Free Asia 

Chinese authorities detained four Tibetan teens from a shuttered Buddhist monastery school after they resisted being sent to schools run by the Chinese government, two residents living in Tibet told Radio Free Asia.

The students, aged 15-18, had been attending the school of the Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge County in Sichuan province, where instruction was in Tibetan and subjects included Buddhist teachings.

But in July, the school was closed because Chinese officials said students under 18 had not attained the age at which they could receive monastic education.

Instead, the nearly 600 students were told they had to attend government-run schools, where classes are taught exclusively in Mandarin and students study the political ideology of Chinese President Xi Jinping, referred to as “Xi Jinping Thought” class.

The four boys resisted, and were detained on Oct. 2 and subjected to several days of “political re-education,” the residents who requested anonymity for security reasons said.

They were released on Sunday and from Monday forced to attend a local government-run school, the sources said.

For generations, Tibetan boys as young as 5 or 6 have attended monasteries for education and religious training, where they use the Tibetan language. Click here to read more.