DHARAMSHALA, January 23: The Chinese authorities have forced a monastery in Kyegudo, Yulshul Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, to shut down an annual winter workshop at a school run by the monastery, reported the Voice of Tibet radio.
The workshop, which was held annually for four months under the initiative of Dhondupling monastery of Kyegudo, teaches various academic subjects including Tibetan grammar, logic, and other traditional form of Tibetan traditional sciences to over a hundred Tibetan children in the locality.
Sermey Loga, a Tibetan monk living in exile, told the radio service that the local Tibetans were keen to send their children to the workshop every year and that the Chinese authorities were not very pleased with the workshop.
Loga added the Chinese authorities fear that the workshop could instil a sense of Tibetan pride in the students and their distinctiveness from the Chinese culture and language. They also say that the school had never been involved in any illegal activities for the past 24 years during which they had carried out similar workshops for Tibetan students.
The monastery took special initiative in expanding the teaching staff at the school, provided free stationery and textbooks for the kids.
The Chinese authorities have also put a stay on the monastery’s construction of a new prayer hall, works for which had been put on halt for several years.
Kyegudo was hit by a massive earthquake in 2010 that left several hundreds dead and many others homeless.
