China is attempting to systematically abolish the Tibetan minority through inhuman measures such as forced assimilation and re-education of up to a million children, noted Renata Alt, the Chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee in German parliament comments on the UN experts' statement on the boarding school system in Tibet.
"China's boarding school system is another gross violation of human rights committed by the Communist Party against the Tibetan people. This China policy, which clearly violates international human rights standards, must be condemned in the strongest terms! Germany must not look on while Tibetan culture is being systematically wiped out. A China strategy is more urgent than ever", observed the statement.
United Nation experts warned that around a million Tibetan minority children are being affected by Chinese government policies aimed at cultural, religious, and linguistic assimilation through a residential school system.
The experts said that "We are deeply concerned that, in recent years, the Tibetan children's residential school system appears to have acted as a mandatory large-scale programme aimed at assimilation of Tibetans into majority Han culture, in violation of international human rights standards”.
The educational content and environment in residential schools are built around the majority Han culture, with textbook content reflecting almost entirely the lived experience of Han students. Tibetan minority children are forced to complete a 'compulsory education' curriculum in Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua) with no access to traditional or culturally relevant learning. The Putonghua language governmental schools do not offer a thorough examination of the Tibetan minority's language, history, and culture.
"As a result, Tibetan children are losing their facility with their native language, as well as the ability to communicate easily with their parents and grandparents in Tibetan," the experts said. They expressed concern about a reported significant increase in the number of Tibetan children living in residential schools in and outside the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Edited and collated by Team TRC