Rebkong students Rise Against Sinicization of Education

On 19 October 2010 in Rebkong (Chinese: Tongren) county in Malho “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” “(TAP)” in Qinghai province, thousands of Tibetan students came out in the streets to protest against the education reforms and the inequality faced by the Tibetans.

The meeting on education reform by the Education Department of Qinghai province, the local Communist Party Secretary and Chairman ordered that all subjects are required to be taught in Mandarin and all textbooks to be printed in Chinese and except for Tibetan and English language classes.

Rebkong’s First National Middle School students rallied through the county joined by students from different schools, the Tongren County Yifu Nationalities Middle School, the Tongren District Residential School, the Tongren Modern Medicine College, the Malho National Teacher Training Institute, and the Malho Nationalities Middle School, till they reached the main square of the Rebkong County Government and Malho Prefecture Government gate.

The students were joined by the public and monks from Rebkong Monastery in support of the rally which mainly voices out for the “Equality for Nationalities and Freedom for Language.” The demonstration was not political in nature and demanded for the respect and protection of Tibetan culture.

The protest started from morning and continued till afternoon, a source said that the police came but did not arrest anyone.

This protest is the result of the continuous partiality by the Chinese government and their attempt to mitigate the Tibetan culture and language.