China over the time has always oppressed Tibetan people. This time China id forcing school children to opt for compulsory military training during their summer vacation as Communist Party believes in military education.
Relationship between India and China touched new lows last year during border conflict.
Attendance at the two camps, called the Young Tibetan Snow Hawk Military Summer Camp and the Tibet Rong He Military Training Center, is depriving Tibetan schoolchildren of the few opportunities still available to them to learn their own Tibetan language in private settings outside of school, sources told RFA.
“Coinciding with school break now in Lhasa, Tibetans are not permitted to hold private classes to learn Tibetan, and so the Chinese authorities are forcing Tibetan children to attend these military programs where they give political education instead,” a Tibetan living in the region told RFA in a written message.
Also speaking to RFA, Karma Tenzin—a researcher at the Dharamsala, India-based Tibet Policy Institute—agreed that training at the military camps is denying Tibetan students the freedom to learn their own language, a crucial support to Tibetan national identity.
“Tibetan children who usually attend Tibetan schools and monasteries during their summer and winter breaks are now left with no choice but to attend these military training programs,” Tenzin said.
“This is China’s attempt to brainwash young Tibetans through a strategy of carrying out programs like this,” Tenzin said.
“The Chinese Communist Party is implanting its own ideology and Chinese nationalism into young Tibetans during their school break, and eventually this will become a threat to the Tibetan language,” he added.
Author
