CHINA FORCIBLY CLOSES LAST SENIOR-LEVEL SCHOOL IN TIBETAN COUNTY AHEAD OF ETHNIC ERASURE LAW
June 29, 2026
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Lhadon Tethong: [email protected]
School founded by Buddhist Leader who died in case linked to transnational repression
Boston – On the eve of the implementation of China’s new “ethnic unity” law, reports have emerged from Tibet that the Gangjong Sherig Academy in Gade County, Golok Prefecture (Tibetan: མགོ་ལོག Chinese: Guoluo), was forced to close on June 24th (1). The school was founded in 2008 by the late Tulku Hungkar Dorjee Rinpoche with a speciality in Tibetan culture. A county Statistical Bulletin cites it as the only institution in the county providing a senior high school-level education (2); senior secondary students will now be compelled to enroll in state-run boarding schools (3) with a highly politicized curriculum and Mandarin-only instruction.
“The sudden shutdown of yet another renowned Tibetan school – in this case the only senior high school in the area – showcases China’s escalating moves to stamp out Tibetan identity, language and culture as its ethnic erasure law comes into effect on July 1st,” said Lhadon Tethong, Director of Tibet Action Institute. “The Chinese government is trying to close off all avenues to a Tibetan education, laying bare the truth that forcing Tibetan children into colonial boarding schools is about indoctrination, not access to education.”
The founder of the school, religious leader Tulku Hungkar Dorjee Rinpoche, was known for supporting Tibetan-led schooling and for refusing to endorse the CCP-chosen claimant to the title of Panchen Lama. After coming under fire from Chinese authorities, he is believed to have fled to Vietnam, where he was reportedly arrested in the presence of Chinese officials and died in custody in April 2025 (4). The Golok region has been the target of intensive crackdowns on Tibetan cultural identity and religious freedom in recent years (5).
Notes:
- Tibet Times, “Chinese Authorities Forcibly Shut Down Gangjong Sherig Academy”, June 25, 2026, https://en.tibettimes.net/2026/06/25/chinese-authorities-forcibly-shut-down-gangjong-sherig-academy/
- “2023 Statistical Bulletin on Education Development in Gade County,” posted by “Gade Education” WeChat account, July 2024, https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/HY1gTDEk84C5OxfzwR8f_A.
- Across Tibet, approximately one million Tibetan children are living in colonial boarding schools that are reminiscent of the residential schools used in Canada and the US to deliberately erase Indigenous languages and identities. See Tibet Action Institute, “When They Came to Take Our Children: China’s Colonial Boarding Schools and the Future of Tibet” (2025) https://tibetaction.net/when-they-came-to-take-our-children and “Separated from their Families, Hidden from the World: China’s Vast Network of Colonial Boarding Schools in Tibet” (2021) https://tibetaction.net/colonial-boarding-school-report.
- Joint Communication to the Ambassador for China, Mandates of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention et al, AL CHN 15/2025, August 8, 2025, https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=30164
- Tibet Action Institute, Press Release, “Besieged Tibetan Area Exposes China’s Attempt to Remake Tibet,” https://tibetaction.net/besieged-tibetan-area-exposes-chinas-attempt-to-remake-tibet/
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