The Chinese authorities on Friday forcibly closed an age-old Tibetan school, namely Jigme Gyaltsen Nationalities Vocational High School in Tibet’s Golok, while hiding the true reason behind the order, the Central Tibetan Administration reported.
The Chinese government had launched investigations into monks or nuns under the age of 18 and had threatened the school authorities with severe punishments if any such people were found.
The closure of this Tibetan school is yet another addition to several previous Tibetan schools, intended to stop the preservation of the Tibetan language, culture, religion, and identity.
Additionally, several lawsuits and pressures from the Golok area’s Communist Party Secretary and other officials were noticed conspiring to close this school for many years, the same report by the CTA claimed.
Golok is a cultural area in Eastern Tibet sandwiched between the Tibetan regions of Amdo and Kham, but for much of its six-hundred-plus years of recorded history, it prided itself on being distinct from both its Tibetan and Chinese neighbors.
Today, Golok corresponds to the Chinese administrative unit Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and is situated in the southern region of Qinghai Province, bordering Sichuan Province to the south, according to a report published by Sarah Jacoby, an expert on Tibetan Buddhism.
A small group of students belonging to Sherab Norbu Ling School was also sued by the Chinese authorities for using jewel and lion emblems present on the Tibetan flag, which has been banned by the Chinese administration, as the group’s logo.
According to the report, this group played an active role in the preservation of Tibetan culture.
Jigme Gyaltsen, the school’s founder, has been wrongly accused of accepting bribes under the guise of being the chairman of the Snow Land Pastoral Association and the Qinghai-Tibet Trade Association, the report claimed.
The accusations against Gyaltsen were investigated but, the school’s leader was found not guilty, as the CTA report claimed,, referring to an article dated June 28 last month, but was suspended from his duties as a teacher and a member of the Tibetan Nationalities Council.
The CTA report further stated that the school was established in 1994 by Ragya Jigme Gyaltsen with the full approval and support of the Machen County People’s Government and the Golok People’s Government.
In 2021, the school had over 1000 students belonging to Tibet and currently, the total strength of students was reported around 1400 students by the CTA.
Additionally, the school had a record of its students publishing over 300 books and written literature and folklore related to cultural education.
