Dharamshala — Chinese government has forcibly shut down the most popular school for Tibetan students, the Gangjong Sherig Norbu School, where Tibetan students from three regions of Tibet come to study and where the graduates are well-trained students who do excellent work in Tibetan societies. The teachers and students cried so hard that they could not control their sadness at the closure of their beloved school after 30 years.
Gangjong Sherig Norbu School, registered as the Jigme Gyaltsen Vocational School was founded in August 1994 by Tibetan scholar Ven Jigme Gyaltsen, with the approval of the Chinese government. It is the first privately funded welfare school in Qinghai province, Tibet. The school was built by the scholar with the help of a few student monks and local Tibetans. The sponsors were local Tibetans, wealthy Tibetans, Tibetans and other generous people from inside and outside Tibet.
The school is the most popular for Tibetan students, who wishes to study the Tibetan language, tradition, culture, religion, and medicine. It was a great success until, in recent years, the Chinese authorities implemented strict policies towards private schools, and Tibetan schools in particular. After years of struggle to save the school from closure, the founder and director of the school, Ven Jigme Gyaltsen, was forced to announce the school's closure in June 8, 2024, in accordance with so-called “the policies of the Chinese Communist Party”.
Ven Jigme Gyaltsen's explanation on the closure of Golog Prefecture Jigme Gyaltsen National Vocational School June 8, 2024: "Recently, the closure of Golog Prefecture Jigme Gyaltsen National Vocational School has attracted widespread attention. Here, the following explanation is made to clarify the relevant facts and eliminate everyone's doubts.
"The closure of Golog Prefecture Jigme Gyaltsen National Vocational School is by no means due to the dictatorship of individual individuals, nor is there any favoritism or infringement of any organization. Instead, it is closed in accordance with the national vocational and technical school standards and the relevant documents of the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee,” he added.
"Although the school has been closed, all high school students in the school have been directly admitted to Golog Prefecture National Vocational School, and students in other classes have also completed registration at Golog Prefecture Vocational and Technical School as freshmen. At the same time, after multi-party consultation and planning, the school's original teachers and staff have been arranged to work at Golog Prefecture Vocational and Technical School in accordance with the agreement of the original unit,” Ven Jigme said.
"From yesterday to now, many people have privately inquired about this situation through telephone, WeChat, etc. Although we have made corresponding explanations, we are still worried that some people are unclear about the situation or have misunderstandings. I hereby write this brief explanation, and hope that friends will know it," the school director said.
The Gangjong Sherig Norbu school held a closing event for students and teachers on July 12, 2024. The teachers and students cried so hard that they could not control their sadness at the closure of their beloved school after 30 years. The Chinese government is trying to eliminate the Tibetan language and identity through various means and policies, this one being the most recent one.
The videos and photos from Tibet showed the closure of the famous school on July 12, 2024, teachers and students wept with sadness and bowed at the school gate to say goodbye to their beloved school, its teachers and staff unwillingly. After seeing the videos and photos of the school's closure, former students of the Tibetan school, Tibetan academics, writers, activists and ordinary Tibetans from inside and outside the world expressed their deep sadness and concern about the Tibetan learning environment in Tibet is deteriorating day by day.
One of their professors, Geshe Jili Jigme, wrote: "I have received many phone calls and messages, I have answered some calls and from the calls come loud cries asking what has happened to the school, the same thing happened to other teachers, we could not sleep the whole night. The fact is that our Gangjong Sherig Norbu School has been closed down in accordance with the relevant documents issued by the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee."
"Since our Ven Jigme Gyaltsen announced the closure of the school, our teachers and students have been filled with grief, and the students I have met have been filled with tears of sadness. Today, We held a farewell function for our students, when I see students filled with tears of sadness, I feel deep pain in my heart. These are facts, please don't call us to ask any more questions, I don't want to talk these days", the professor concluded.
The Gangjong Sherig Norbu is a boarding school that accepts many students of different backgrounds and ethnicities; there were few Chinese, Mongolians, and most of them are Tibetan monks and students. The curriculum includes Tibetan language, Buddhism, science, Chinese, English, mathematics, algebra, physics, chemistry, computer science, physical education, art, music and work. Courses in the 'traditional culture' category include logic, grammar, poetry, introduction to Tibetan studies, astronomy and the calendar, phonology, medicine and handicrafts.
In 30 years, the school has graduated 2,259 students, including 742 university students, 40 bachelors, 3 doctors, 242 teachers, 13 directors, 102 civil servants, 108 monastery managers, 83 doctors, 8 village chiefs and 254 private entrepreneurs.
The aim of the School is to improve the overall cultural quality of the Tibetan nationality, to adjust the two-tier knowledge structure in which monks in monasteries have no access to modern applied science and the children of farmers and herdsmen have no chance to learn traditional Tibetan culture systematically and thoroughly, and to cultivate a diverse group of talents with secondary scientific and cultural knowledge as well as moral integrity and abilities that can adapt to the development of the times and be useful for national and regional building.
Ven Jigme Gyaltsen also established a primary school for girls in September 2004, in the Ragya town, Machu County, in the Golog prefecture of Tibet.
Ven Jigme Gyaltsen, born in 1965, with a University education. He is a member of the China Future Research Society, a member of the National Council of Outstanding Figures in Private Education, a special researcher of the Academic Committee of the Chinese Academy of Management Sciences. He has won the titles of "Advanced Individual in Donating to Schools" and "Outstanding Youth" awarded by provincial and state departments, "Top Ten Outstanding Youths" and "Qinghai Guangcai Enterprise Award" and "Hundred Reform Model News Figures Award" and he has been featured in 26 news organizations at the national and provincial levels, including newspapers, radio, and television.
