Chinese authorities in Qinghai province have shut down private schools forcing some students to enroll in government schools, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported citing Tibetan sources as saying.
The move comes amid a region-wide push by Chinese authorities to close schools promoting Tibetan culture and offering classroom instruction in the Tibetan language.
The Sengdruk Taktse School, located in Darlag (in Chinese, Dali) county in the Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was closed without explanation on July 8 amid a regionwide clampdown on schools promoting Tibetan culture and offering instruction in the Tibetan language, sources said.
Many of the students who attended the Middle School are now enrolled in schools affiliated with the Chinese government, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA, citing contacts in the Darlag region.
"However, those of the students who are orphans now have nowhere to go and have been left unattended," RFA quoted the source as saying on condition of anonymity. "And huge restrictions are being placed on the teachers who had taught at Sengdruk to prevent them from helping the orphaned students," the source added.
According to the publication, other schools in Golog offering classes outside China's government-mandated curriculum have now been warned they may also be closed, a Tibetan living in the area said, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. "With the shutting down of the Sengdruk Taktse school, authorities have also told many private schools in the region they may be shut down eventually," he said.
The Chinese government occupied Tibet in 1950 and has ever since tried to control the region.
The 1959 Tibetan uprising saw violent clashes between Tibetan residents and Chinese forces. The 14th Dalai Lama fled to neighbouring India after the failed uprising against Chinese rule.
The Dalai Lama, the supreme Tibetan Buddhist leader, established a government-in-exile in India.
Since becoming President in 2013, Xi Jinping has pursued a firm policy of stepping up security control of Tibet. Beijing has been cracking down on Buddhist monks and followers of the Dalai Lama.
( With inputs from ANI )
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