Tibetan school forcibly closed, teachers arrested

The government authorities in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) County have forcibly closed a locally-founded Tibetan school that has offered classes in Tibetan language and culture for the last 20 years at Khadrok village in Rongpo Tsa Lema Township in Kardze County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Sources told TCHRD that the Khadrok Jamtse Rokten School was closed on 2 April 2012 and the Kardze County Public Security Bureau officers arrested the school’s director, Nyendak and a teacher, Yama Tsering.

Both were arrested from the school and taken to an undisclosed location. Nyendak (aged 51) has worked as the director of the school for over 20 years while Yama Tsering (aged 36) joined theschool as an English teacher in 2005 and since then had worked as a teacher without taking any pay.

Sources said Yama Tsering’s resourcefulness in getting foreign sponsors had enabled the school to renovate its classrooms, hostel, and staff quarters.

Both are residents of Khadrok village.

Sources said the security officers interrogated the family members of Nyendak and Yama Tsering after the arrests.

After the closure of the school, the parents in the area were instructed to send their children who are above 7 years of age to the government schools in the township.

The security officers had also issued warnings against attempts to reopen the school.

The Khadrok Jamtse Rokten School was founded in 1989 with full approval from the Kardze County authorities, according to our sources. The school curriculum put special emphasis on speaking pureTibetan among the students.

The families of the two teachers were denied access to see the detainees.

There is no information at this time on the two teachers’ whereabouts and condition. The charges for their arrest are also not known.