Making Tibetans in China: the educational challenges of harmonious multiculturalism

Abstract

This discussant paper focuses on education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR), and provides a background to situate the articles that follow about education in selected Tibetan communities of China and India. It also provides a brief review of education policies concerning free basic education, bilingual education, and hinterland boarding schools. The paper argues that while enrolment rates in most parts of the TAR continue to rise, schools produce only mixed results. This is due to the widespread lack of quality learning environments that can promote a culturally diverse and locally relevant education to foster a harmonious multiculturalism and sustain Tibet's social and economic development. Only by doing so, will schools propel Tibetan academic achievement to levels comparable with the national average. Until then, the potential of education to help Tibetans live and work as critical and innovative thinkers in a rapidly changing market economy in the TAR and across China will remain limited.