-By Free Tibet
The secondary school students are believed to have been taken to a so-called “reform through education centre” in Markham county.
In October 2021, Chinese authorities in the so-called ‘Tibetan Autonomous Region’ arrested three secondary school students for showing displeasure at the lack of Tibetan language classes. In the five months since their arrest, little is known of the whereabouts and condition of 16 year-old Palsang (དཔལ་སངས།), 15 year-old Sermo (གསེར་མོ།), and 11 year-old Yangkyi (གཡང་སྐྱིད།), but it is believed that they have been taken to a so-called ‘reform through education centre’ in Markham County (སྨར་ཁམས་རྫོང་།), Chamdo.
Anonymous sources have told Free Tibet’s research partner, Tibet Watch, that: “Authorities have been aggressively pursuing a policy of universalization of Chinese language or Mandarin Chinese education in all the schools in the Markham region, while emphasising love for China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and patriotism. When Tibetan children expressed that they were not happy with the non-availability of Tibetan classes, and expressed their problem… three students were arrested and forcefully taken away.” Click here to read more.