Tibetan Teens Escape Chinese Boarding School “Prison”, Cite “Unbearable” Life Of Beatings And Abuse

London, UK – Tibet Action Institute is urging UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, to press Chinese leaders for answers over its colonial boarding school system in Tibet when he visits China this week. In particular, he should inquire about the fate of five Tibetan children, monks ages 13 and 14, three of whom are seen in shocking video footage where they allege abuse and maltreatment in a state-run boarding school in the eastern Tibetan town of Muge (Chinese: 毛儿盖 Mao’ergai). The young monks were forced to leave Muge Monastery School after Chinese authorities ordered their parents and the monastery, along with at least four other monasteries [1] in the Ngaba region, to send all students under age 18 to state-run boarding schools. David Lammy will arrive in China on 18 October for high-level meetings on his first visit [2] as Foreign Secretary under Labour’s new government.

In footage first released by Radio Free Asia on 9 September 2024 [3], three of the five young boys can be seen following what is described as a suicide attempt after escaping from their boarding school and jumping into a nearby river. The children weep as they describe the school as “unbearable” and being “like a prison,” where they are not given enough food, denied water, and where they are harassed, beaten and discriminated against, including being prevented from reciting Buddhist texts. Tibet Action Institute has identified the school they escaped from as the Muge Nine-Year School (Chinese: 毛儿盖九年一贯制学校 Mao’ergai Nine-Year School) in Zungchu County (Ch: 松潘 Songpan) in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo, now considered by the Chinese government as part of Sichuan province. In a separate video of an incident that took place on or before 6 September 2024, a young monk confirmed to have been made to leave Muge Monastery School can be seen being forced into a car against his will by two unidentified men.

“This deeply disturbing footage exposes abuse and mistreatment in China’s boarding schools for Tibetan children that is so extreme it has driven children to take desperate measures,” said Lhadon Tethong, Director of Tibet Action Institute. “David Lammy should demand answers as to the whereabouts and well being of these young boys, and all of their peers from Muge Monastery School, and challenge Chinese officials–as he has done with other governments–to end their colonial policies in Tibet.”

While the Chinese government claims Tibetan parents are happy to send their children to state-run schools, a parent of one of the children forced to leave Muge Monastery spoke of the coercive methods employed by Chinese authorities: “When they came to take our children, it felt as if they were searching for prisoners we were hiding. They tried every method to take our children from us. But now, as children risk their lives escaping, no one is there to help.”

These five boys were part of a group of 140 young monastic students forced by Chinese authorities to leave the Muge Monastery School in late June 2024. Sources from Tibet report students from Muge Monastery School were sent to at least three government-run boarding schools. Those aged 11 years and younger were sent to Songpan County Grassland Village Relocation School (Ch: 松潘县草原乡易 地育人学校 ) known by local Tibetans as Norwa Yultso Tengey School, while those aged 12 to 14 were sent to Muge Nine-Year School (Ch:毛儿盖九年一贯制学校) located in Muge Town (Ch:毛儿盖), close to where the incident in the video occurred. Students from ages 15 to 18 were taken to at least one unidentified vocational school.

According to sources in Tibet, at least one of the schools in Muge Town was then closed to outsiders and parents were not allowed to meet their children. Only after pleading and crying at the gate, were some given limited access. The students were forced to undergo intensive political reeducation and “military training.” Multiple people, including parents of the children, are reported to have been detained or arrested in relation to this incident.

“In this single incident I can see that several Chinese government policies in Tibet are coming to a head. The forcible closure of monastic and local schools, the coercion of parents and children to enter the colonial boarding school system, and the increasing Sinicization of the Tibetan education curriculum are causing deep pain for Tibetans and will have serious repercussions on our future as Tibetans,” said Dr. Gyal Lo, a Tibetan educational sociologist. “The UK government must defend the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people and demand the immediate re-opening of the Muge, Kirti and Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery Schools, as well as private schools like the recently shuttered Gangjong Sherig Norbu Lobling School” [4].

International concern has intensified over China’s efforts to eradicate Tibetan-medium schooling and compel Tibetan parents to enroll their children in state-operated Chinese-medium boarding schools. An estimated one million Tibetan children aged four to 18 have been separated from their parents and made to live in state-run boarding schools that serve as instruments for indoctrinating children into Chinese nationalism and loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party [5]. Students are prohibited from practicing their religion and are exposed to a highly politicized curriculum aimed at fostering a Chinese national identity. A growing number of UN Member States and independent human rights experts have urged Beijing to abolish the coercive school system [6]. The U.S. government has gone even further, imposing visa sanctions on Chinese officials linked to the schools [7].

Media Contact:

Lhadon Tethong, Director, Tibet Action Institute +1 (917) 418-4181

Dr. Gyal Lo, Tibet Specialist, Tibet Action Institute +1 (647) 619-9821

Email enquiries: [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

[1] Chinese authorities reportedly first ordered Buddhist schools at Kirti Monastery and Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery in Dzoge County (Chinese: 若尔盖县 Zoige County) to send students under age 18 to state-run boarding schools in April 2024. Since then, at least 1,300 students from the two monastery schools, mainly monks and nuns aged six to 18 years old, have been forcibly enrolled in colonial boarding schools and Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery has been closed. An unknown number of monastic students from two other monasteries in the region, Serpo and Drakra monasteries, were also forced to leave in August. For more information see 5 teenage Tibetan monks attempt to take own lives, Radio Free Asia, 9 September, 2024: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/teenage-monks-attempt-take-own-lives-09092024153622.html and Primary school of Tibetan Buddhist monastery forced shut, Tibet Watch, 8 October 2024: https://www.tibetwatch.org/news/2024/10/8/primary-school-of-tibetan-buddhist-monastery-forced-shut

[2] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The People’s Republic of China, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to Visit China, 17 October 2024: https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/xw/wsrc/202410/t20241017_11509077.html

[3] News report by Radio Free Asia, 5 teenage Tibetan monks attempt to take own lives, 9 September 2024: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/teenage-monks-attempt-take-own-lives-09092024153622.html

[4] China forcibly shut down Gangjong Sherig Norbu Lobling school, the most prominent Tibetan run school in July 2024. See Tibet Action Institute Press Release: https://tibetaction.net/closure-of-prominent-school-tibet/

[5] UN Special Procedures, China: UN experts alarmed by separation of 1 million Tibetan children from families and forced assimilation at residential schools, 6 February 2023: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/02/china-un-experts-alarmed-separation-1-million-tibetan-children-families-and

[6] Tibet Action Institute Press Release, UN Member States Slam China for Coercive Residential Schools System in Tibet at Major Rights Review, 23 January 2024: https://tibetaction.net/press-release-un-member-states-slam-china-for-coercive-residential-schools-sys tem-in-tibet-at-major-rights-review/

[7] Tibet Action Institute Press Release, US Secretary Blinken Announces Action Against Colonial Boarding Schools in Tibet, Visa Restrictions on PRC Officials Tied to Assimilation of 1M Tibetan Children, 22 August 2023: https://tibetaction.net/us-secretary-blinken-announces-action-against-colonial-boarding-schools-in-tibet-visa-restrictions-on-prc-officials-tied-to-assimilation-of-1m-tibetan-children/

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