-By International Campaign for Tibet 

Recent reports in Chinese state media indicate that authorities in Tibet are continuing their drive to indoctrinate Tibetan children at early ages and to enforce allegiance to the rule and the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party. The ongoing apparent attempts to weaken ties to Tibetan culture and to stifle dissent among young Tibetans fly in the face of concerns raised by independent international rights bodies, which have called for the protection of rights of Tibetan children, particularly in education.

While the reports in Chinese state media and on state-run websites indicate that Chinese authorities in Tibet use different instruments to indoctrinate Tibetan school children, the goal of the authorities appears to be largely twofold. On the one hand, Tibetan children are being conditioned at an early age to accept and follow CCP rule and ideology by means of repeated exposure to CCP narratives and slogans. On the other hand, a distorted view of Tibetan history is imparted to the children that imposes Chinese authorities’ denial of the Tibetan assertion that Tibet has not been a part of China. The apparent aim of the indoctrination drive is to establish that Chinese rule over Tibet is legitimate, instead of being a result of an illegal annexation by force.

China’s attempts to indoctrinate Tibetan children have led several international bodies to raise the alarm. In March, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights called for an immediate abolishment of China’s coercive boarding school system in Tibet, expressing concern “about reports of the large-scale campaign to eradicate Tibetan culture and language.” In February, three independent United Nations experts warned that nearly 1 million Tibetan children have been separated from their families and sent to residential schools, where they are forced to learn in Mandarin Chinese in a curriculum built around Chinese culture. Previously, credible reports substantiated that up to 1 million Tibetan children are systematically alienated from their language and culture in compulsory boarding schools.

The International Campaign for Tibet calls on the Chinese government to end its attempts to indoctrinate Tibetan children and to respect their rights guaranteed by international law, such as the UN Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, both of which China has ratified. Click here to read more.