Draft Education Policy Meeting Concludes
Dharamsala, 10 February: Should the Tibetan students be taught traditional Tibetan education with more emphasis on modern education, or vice versa? This was one of the issues which was dominant at the two-day seminar on the second draft of the 12th Kashag’s education policy. Many people took part in the gathering of experts and policy makers held at Songtsen Library in Dehradun by the Department of Education that ended Sunday.
Sensing the degrading standard of Tibetan language amongst the Tibetan youths a need for starting correspondence courses in Tibetan language was also discussed at length at the meeting. The second draft education policy’s chapters and sections which were subjective and unclear were also discussed in detail.
The section 8 of the draft policy which suggested a ban on co-curricular activities involving competition and contest was one issue that was raised strongly at the seminar.
Suggestions, both in favour and against, were witnessed about the introduction of an evaluation system not based on exams but solely on the student’s general performance and teachers recommendations upto eighth standard
Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Kalon Tripa of the exile Tibetan administration said that the policies of 12th Kashag did not seem to have been well understood by the public. Rinpoche reiterated the background of the draft education policy in his concluding address to the gathering.
Ven. Karma Gelek Yuthok, the Secretary of the Department of Education, thanked the participants for their contribution during the concluding session before a dinner reception from the Kashag later in the day.
This meeting was a follow up to a seminar of Indian experts on education called by the Kashag in New Delhi earlier last month.
With inputs from Voice of Tibet