By Tenzin Dharpo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug. 24: Children in Occupied-Tibet’s so-called Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) are reportedly subjected to military training by China. The unprecedented move by Chinese authorities is said to have been implemented all over Tibet, according to Voice of Tibet radio.
The four-week training reportedly began on August 18 at a Lhasa city school where children as young as nine years old were made to undergo military styled drills.
A source cited by VOT said that the training is made mandatory for any student graduating from primary school to middle school and that failure to take part in the training would be met with punitive measures by Chinese authorities.
The training included military drills such as march-past, handling firearms, swimming as well as hand-to-hand combat, among other things. The same source also said that similar trainings have been made mandatory for students at various levels of schools around Tibet.
China’s leaning towards an increasingly militarized social structure in Tibet is apparent with official directives making trainings mandatory in addition to circulating directives to schools calling for student’s responsibility towards attaining military training for the betterment of China.
