By Nagendra Ranta,
Shimla: Tibetan students, who take lessons about their culture and tradition in schools, set up especially for the Tibetan students in India, celebrated their foundation day at a two-day function in Shimla.
Established in 1961, the Central Tibetan Schools Administration, celebrated the day with great fanfare.
Joint Secretary of Ministry of Human Resource, Keshav Desiraju and Education Minister of the Tibetan Government, Thupten Lungrik, participated in the function.
Among others were the students and teachers from all other branches that come under the Central Tibetan Schools Administration in India.
Many teachers are trained specially for these schools so that they can also give lessons on Tibetan culture and tradition. Students learn only Tibetan till Class III in these schools, and learn other languages from Class IV.
The Government of India has established 77 such schools in various parts of the country. Established about four decades ago on the request of His Holiness, Dalai Lama to the then Prime Minister, Jawahar Lal Nehru, these schools were aimed at teaching theTibetan students their language, culture and tradition.
“These schools are in India and they follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) syllabus. But at the same time these schools are different from other schools because they give emphasis on Tibetan culture and tradition and they have been successful in achieving that,” said Keshav Desiraju, Secretary, Ministry of Human Resources.
“ We are thankful to Indian Government and people of India that our culture and tradition exist because of these institutions,” said Thupten Lungrik, Education Minister, Exiled Tibetan Government
“ China is trying to destroy our culture. This will prevent our culture from extincting,” said Pena, a Tibetan student.
“I don’t think any thing like this can happen in China. It is only possible in India because India is a secular and a free country. They gave us freedom to do everything,” said Mingna, a Tibetan student.
About 80 per cent of the 1,30,000 exiled Tibetans live in India.
Education has been a big challenge for the Tibetan children.
