Nothing can be more heart breaking
for me to see Human Rights Violation in Tibet. In the summer of 2012, one of
the Tibetan teenagers came up to me and asked me, “Venky, I know that you’re a
Tibetan Buddhist and you can read Tibetan text. Is it possible that you can
teach me Tibetan alphabet in your free time?” Tashi Delrek said, “I never had
chance to learn Tibetan language in local school.”
I was shocked. It is unbelievable
for a Tibetan teenager boy who lives in Tibet not understanding any Tibetan
language. But this incident also reflects the issues of Education Policy that Chinese government declared in Tibet.
Me and Tashi are studying Tibetan Alphabet together.
Should Tibetans Study Tibetan
Language? Yes. But can they do that??
According to Human Rights Center
in University of Essex, “CCP(Chinese Communist Party) are pushing the use of
Mandarin in schools which has many disadvantages for the Tibetans. Chinese is
quickly becoming the lingua-franca in Tibet. Mandarin has replaced Tibetan as
the medium of instruction in schools. The only way to study in Tibetan, is to
study Tibetan as a language subject. Tibetan is relegated to an inferior
position whilst Mandarin becomes the language which determines academic and
professional success.”
Tashi confirmed: “I only learned
Tibetan for two years in primary school. Then the school decided that Mandarin
Chinese are far more useful than Tibetan to study. These’re also government
policys about making us study Chinese.”
Photo Credited to Essex University in UK
"It may not be the deliberate
goal of the Party to let Tibetan culture die, but I wonder whether the Tibetan
language will survive or be eradicated." Our Holiness, Panchen Lama said.
Everyone should enjoy liberty,
property and happiness in wherever they’re living. Have the rights to study
your own culture and own language should not be outlawed. Studying Tibetan
Language should not be only limited as a language subject. CCP need to give
Tibetans rights to determine what language they want to use in Schools.
Tibetan Lessons in Shangri-La, Tibet
Recently, Tibetans and some
Chinese volunteers started Tibetan Language schools in Shangri-La, Tibet.
Volunteers used their free time to teach students advanced language class during
winter break and summer. UN Human Rights Council and Students for a Free Tibet
are also promoting actions to CCP in order to transforming Tibet Human Rights
Violation through nonviolent actions.
Check out this fancy powerpoint made by Essex University in England about Language Rights in Tibet: http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lg/lg474/LanguageRightsTibet.pdf
Click the link below to read a blog post from NYTimes about Human Rights in Tibet:
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/an-online-plea-to-chinas-leader-to-save-tibets-culture/
Check out this fancy powerpoint made by Essex University in England about Language Rights in Tibet: http://courses.essex.ac.uk/lg/lg474/LanguageRightsTibet.pdf
Click the link below to read a blog post from NYTimes about Human Rights in Tibet:
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/an-online-plea-to-chinas-leader-to-save-tibets-culture/
As you said in the next post "Majority of Tibetan people lived in Western China in Qinghai province, Sichuan province and Xizang Province." So it is reasonable to think that Tibetan culture is somehow related to Chinese culture? By the way, I think most Tibetan people still speaks Tibetan Language, at least the ones I met did.
ReplyDeleteI think Tibetan culture is a mix between Chinese Culture and India Culture, especially for Tibetan Buddhism; that is strongly influenced by Classical Indian Buddhism and Hinduism. The people who live in Ngawa(Sichuan Aba), Shangri-La(Xianggelila, Yunnan), Lharsa(Xizang) are pretty much like us. They can speak Chinese REALLY Well. But they're having problems reading or writing Tibetan Text. I met kids this summer who cannot speak Tibetan at all and they refused to study it. To make it easy for you to understand: Tibetan kids these days are like ABCs here.
Delete