Training on Basic Education Policy For Primary School Teachers Kicks off[Wednesday, 1 September 2010, 6:31 p.m.]

Education Secretary Ven Karma Gelek Yuthok (2nd R in the front row), Principal Ven Jampel Dakpa (2nd L in the front row), Education Officer Tsering Samdup (1st R in the front row), Under Secretary Kelsang Rinchen (1st L in the front row) with the participants of the second primary school teachers’ workshop at Sarah on 1 September 2010

Dharamshala:
The Secretary of the Department of Education today inaugurated the
second primary school teachers’ training on the Basic Education Policy
for Tibetans in exile at the College of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarah
near here.The duration of this training is from 1 September
2010 to 30 March 2012, education officer Tsering Samdup said in his
introductory address. He said the participants include 14 Bachelor of Arts graduates who fulfil the criteria enshrined in the basic education policy. The
workshop will cover a wide range of courses pertaining to the Basic
Education Policy, such as ideology and history of Tibetan education
system, child psychology, teaching methodology in primary school,
dialectics and special education, Mr Samdup said.In his
address, Ven Jampel Dakpa, principal of the college of higher Tibetan
studies, underlined the need to have qualified teachers in accordance
to the wishes of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.Education
Secretary Ven Yuthok Karma Gelek commended those who dedicate their
service in teaching when the Tibetan people is passing through a
critical phase in exile.He praised all the participants for obtaining more than 50% in their B.A. studies.He
also spoke on the need to have competent teachers with good knowledge
of Basic Education Policy, importance of teacher, and to make worth of
the training opportunities.The Basic of Education Policy for
Tibetans in Exile was approved by the 13th Assembly of the Tibetan
People’s Deputies in September 2004. Since then around 129 teachers,
including spiritual teachers, from the pre-primary, primary, middle
schools and spiritual have been trained.The
education policy was founded on the study of inner science upheld by
Tibet’s spiritual traditions, with the universal human values advocated
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in general and on the matter of Tibetan
education in particular as its central theme. It
follows a three-language policy with Tibetan language as the medium of
teaching from the pre-primary level up to the class III. A student
should be fully proficient in any one of foreign language and acquire a
working knowledge of reading and writing in a third language after
graduating from Class X. A second language may be chosen from among the
four languages of Hindi, Chinese, English and Spanish. Depending on the
availability of facilities more choices may be given. The third
language will be the language of the region where the school is
located. The teaching of second and third languages shall be started
from from class IV and class VI respectively.(Read full text of Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile)