SW CHINA: TIBETAN HIGH SCHOOLERS ARRIVE IN SICHUAN HAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENGDU 000195 SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/CM - MACE, DRL - O'SULLIVAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/17/2034 TAGS: PHUM PGOV SOCI CH SUBJECT: SW CHINA: TIBETAN HIGH SCHOOLERS ARRIVE IN SICHUAN HAN AREAS REF: A) CHENGDU 117 B) CHENGDU 115 CHENGDU 00000195 001.2 OF 002 CLASSIFIED BY: David E. Brown, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Chengdu. REASON: 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) Summary: An Aba Prefecture plan to send many Tibetan middle school graduates to Sichuan high schools has been delayed a year, an ethnic Tibetan former middle school teacher from Aba Prefecture in western Sichuan Province said. The plan overall has more students than originally planned, with 12,911 Tibetan area students starting mostly three-year vocational high school classes in Chinese-speaking parts of Sichuan Province. The teacher also discussed his monk brother's two-month police interrogation, reflected on his travels this summer with six middle school teacher colleagues to Tibetan monasteries and the Dalai Lama's birthplace, and discussed PRC restrictions barring Tibetan monks from teaching at universities. End summary. Some Parents Fear Students Sent to Han Areas Lose Respect for Elders and Self-Confidence -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) An ethnic Tibetan former middle school teacher (ref A) said in late August that the implementation of the Sichuan provincial program to send Tibetan middle school graduates to vocational high schools in Chinese-speaking areas of Sichuan has been delayed for one year. The former teacher, now on leave from a Tibetan middle school in Aba County, Aba Prefecture where he taught for six years, says that many parents fear that children who are sent to Chinese speaking areas return as misbehaving youth who lack respect for their own parents. He added that Tibetan students sent to Chinese schools often lack confidence because language difficulties mean they generally lag behind Han students. The teacher said that some of the schools being rebuilt in southern Aba Prefecture, which was hit hard by the May 12, 2008 earthquake, will serve ethnic Tibetan students from the northern part of Aba prefecture as well as local students. Sichuan Party Paper: "9+3" Free Education for Tibetans in Sichuan Han Areas Underway -------------- -------------- ¶3. (SBU) According to Sichuan press and an official Sichuan government website, the "9+3 Free Education Plan" (ref B) to send Tibetan middle school graduates to high schools in Chinese-speaking areas is successful. As part of the new program, 12,911 Tibetan students have recently arrived at 80 different high schools, mostly vocational high schools. Three thousand of these Tibetan students are going to high schools in Chengdu or its subordinate counties. According to a September 7 report in the Sichuan Province Communist Party newspaper Sichuan Ribao, local governments are raising money to build and improve facilities for these new students. In order to prepare for these new students from Tibetan areas, Dazhou City Vocational High School decided to use 12 million RMB (USD 1.75 million) in foreign charitable donations to buy educational equipment and to use a Chinese central government subsidy of two million RMB (USD 290,000) for teacher training. According to the Sichuan Party newspaper's report, many of these vocational high schools are studying the experience of Leshan and four other key schools that began accepting Tibetan students last March. Leshan arranged for "Tibetan cadres with a resolute political and ideological stance to coach the Tibetan students on their lives outside the classroom in order to give them the feel of home and to carry out education in civic virtues." Monk Brother Returned to Monastery After Two Months of Police Interrogation -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) The teacher said that his brother returned to his monastery after two months of police interrogation. His brother had been on the run (ref A) for a year after another Tibetan passed via the Internet to the outside world some photographs the monk had taken of post-March 2008 protests in Aba Prefecture. The other Tibetan was caught and sentenced to 14 years in prison. The brother hid out for a year until his surrender to the police was negotiated by his abbot, who got a commitment from public security that he wouldn't be harmed or charged but would be allowed to return to the monastery. The teacher said his brother was held for two months and then allowed to return to the monastery. In response to a question as to whether he was beaten, the teacher said, "He was beaten a little, but nothing serious." Teachers on Kumbum's Touristy Monks, Dalai Lama's Birthplace -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) The teacher related his experiences travelling with five other middle school teachers in Qinghai Province this summer. Some of the Tibetan teachers were shocked when they visited Kumbum (Ta'er) Monastery near Xining at how the monks were preoccupied with serving tourists at the expense of their CHENGDU 00000195 002.2 OF 002 religious duties. The teacher said he had seen other monasteries overwhelmed with tourism and so wasn't as surprised. In contrast, the teachers were pleased with the condition of the Dalai Lama's birthplace, which is also near Xining. The teachers were moved at seeing some personal items of the Dalai Lama that are kept there and had a fine visit with the Dalai Lama's cousin who takes care of the birthplace. "Superstitious" Monks Not Allowed to Teach at Universities -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) The teacher, who is now in the third year of leave from his Tibetan middle school in Aba County, Aba Prefecture, is studying for a master's degree in Tibetan Logic at the SW Minorities University. The teacher said that during his travels this summer he got advice on his thesis from erudite monks in some of the monasteries he visited. Tibetan Logic is a system of training within the Gelug School, the most academic of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism, that emphasizes the use of analytical reasoning combined with meditation in the pursuit of enlightenment. The teacher said that Tibetan Logic is also taught as a secular philosophical subject at the Southwest China Nationalities University. The teacher said that the monks giving him advice are much more knowledgeable than his teachers at the SW Nationalities University. However, he added the monks are religious and viewed as "superstitious" by PRC authorities and therefore not allowed to teach at a PRC university. "I could stay at a monastery and study for free with those monks, but I need to get a degree so I can get a good job." ¶7. (U) This cable was coordinated with U.S. Embassy Beijing. BROWN