Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India] October 20 : Chinese authorities have shut down at least three privately run Tibetan schools in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture within a few weeks, depriving hundreds of children of Tibetan-medium education and raising concerns over the preservation of the region’s language and cultural identity, according to a report by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
The report, citing reliable sources in the region, alleged that the closures were part of a broader government drive to move Tibetan children into state-run institutions where Mandarin Chinese is the primary language of instruction. It said the increasing surveillance of phone and internet communications had made it difficult to obtain independent information from Tibetan areas.
According to the CTA report, authorities closed the Golog Tadrak Orphan School in Tabo Village, Machen County, on September 2, 2026. Established in 2005 with funding from the late Dr. Tawu Lobsang Palden and his wife, who lived in Germany, the institution provided education and shelter to more than 300 children who had lost both parents or came from broken families.
A week earlier, on August 27, authorities shut down the Ra-Gya Jigme Gyaltsen Grassland Girls’ School, also known as Gangjong Tsathang Girls’ School. Founded in 2005, the institution provided education and vocational training to girls from nomadic herding communities across Ü-Tsang, Kham and Amdo.
The school taught Tibetan language, Buddhist philosophy, science, traditional medicine, handicrafts, thangka painting and astrology. The CTA report described it as a prominent institution whose graduates had become respected figures in Tibetan society. It also noted that the same community had faced another closure in 2024, when authorities shut down the Ra-Gya Gangjong Sherig Norbu Lobling School.
The third institution, the Jasak village school in Machen County, was reportedly closed at the end of August after local authorities ruled that it could no longer teach in Tibetan. Officials allegedly instructed the school to use the “national common language,” referring to Mandarin Chinese written in simplified characters. Its students were subsequently transferred to nearby government-run boarding schools, according to the report.
The CTA said villagers had established and maintained the school through crowdfunding to preserve the Tibetan language for future generations.
The latest closures follow earlier shutdowns in Golog, including the closure of Sengdruk Taktse School in July 2021 and seven additional private schools across Darlag, Machen, Gade and Chikdril counties. The report also cited the permanent closure of Hungkar Dorje Vocational High School on June 24, 2026, which had taught Tibetan language and culture since 2008.
The CTA described the closures as violations of educational, linguistic and cultural rights, arguing that the transfer of Tibetan children to Mandarin-medium boarding schools threatens their connection to their mother tongue and cultural traditions.
The report cited warnings by UN human rights experts in 2023 that around one million Tibetan children were affected by a boarding-school system they characterised as involving “forced assimilation.” It also argued that the closures conflict with international conventions protecting minority-language education and provisions of China’s Constitution and the Regional Ethnic Autonomy Law.