By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Apr. 24: Pema Yangchen, Cabinet Minister of Department of Education (DoE) of CTA, announced on Thursday that her department will provide relief assistance of 5000 Rupees to 200 college students all over India. The all-India lock down that has banned travel and movement, due to the COVID-19 have impacted Tibetan college students pursuing higher studies in various cities across the country.
DoE announced that “the relief money is aimed at helping those students who are financially disadvantaged and have no family to turn to as they are being stranded in their colleges and universities amidst the lockdown.” Students who are facing financial problems and are stranded in their colleges or universities have been asked to contact the Scholarship & Sponsorship desk of the department before April 30.
Similar initiative was initially carried out by the Global Tibetan Students’ Union (GTSU) where the group accumulated funds through donations and had since helped more than 120 students seeking financial assistance. GTSU’s survey had revealed that around 342 Tibetan students are stranded all over India, noting that the number of students could be more given their limited access to reach students in some parts.
The union announced on their social media platforms today that they are no longer “accepting any new applications as DoE has promised to provide financial support to the needy students.”
The Education minister also announced that DoE will provide relief money of 2000 Rupees to over 297 high-school students belonging to financially disadvantaged homes so they can access internet services and resources online. As the pandemic has forced schools to remain shut, classes have been taking place online to provide quality education for the students of class in the middle school via Tibet TV.
For students with limited access to the internet, the department seeks to enable online classes through TV broadcasts in the near future. Primary school students and their parents have been asked to avail all online resources through their website: https://bodyiglobjong.com/teaching/. The department is making efforts to ensure undisrupted learning for students of classes in the senior schools.
2 Responses
‘Better late than never’ – I guess this is the motto …
Tibet.net website has used a rather offensive word of ‘ Needy’. In future, I think news writers have to think twice about choosing the correct word. In western countries, people no longer use sensitive words like ‘ poor’ or ‘needy’ or ‘ destitute’.