By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug 21: A Tibetan teenager named Sherab Dorjee was taken into custody on August 16 by Chinese police in Trotsik Township, Ngaba County, reportedly for his refusal to attend a Chinese propaganda meeting organized by the government, according to Tibet Watch. Local sources have also said that Sherab may have also been targeted for requesting Tibetan language in their curriculum.
The Chinese authorities on August 14 held a propaganda meeting for young Tibetans and later arrested the 19-year-old with few other students but they were all released afterwards except Dorjee. The meeting was called for “praising the Communist Party of China and education on the security agenda.” He had previously submitted a petition to the education authorities urging his school to be allowed to teach in Tibetan language.
There are speculations, according to the report, that Dorjee might have been arrested solely for submitting a petition against the county’s orders on schools to instruct only in Chinese language as the school reopens after the summer vacation this year. A few students from the Tibetan Middle school of Machu County submitted the petition to the concerned office in response to the order. The report revealed that many townships and counties in Sichuan Province have been carrying out such campaigns for CCP’s propagandist political education to influence young Tibetans.
On July 21, the General office of the Ministry of Education issued a notice that said that from September onwards, kindergartens in all ethnic and rural areas have to be taught in Mandarin. In the same town, a senior monk of Trotsik monastery named Konmay was detained on July 20 by Chinese police but his whereabouts remain unknown. He is a senior monk appointed to a disciplinary role, which required him to supervise the daily functioning of the school and discipline of the monks in the monastery.
