Contact is taking a holiday!

Sikyong with Tibetan students of CST Shimla
Photo: CTA

The transfer of Tibetan schools which have in the past been administered by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Education (MoE) is nearly complete. The schools are being transferred to the Central Tibetan Administration’s (CTA) Education Department, with six remaining and due for transfer shortly.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering, President of the CTA, visited these six schools during his official tour this month to assess their current situation and to meet the staff to gain an understanding of their perspective and suggestions.

Originally 28 Tibetan schools came under the administration of the Indian MoE. The schools transfer project has been in place since 2013; 22 schools have so far been handed over to the Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society (STSS), which is under the administration of the CTA’s Education Department. The remaining six schools, currently in the process of transfer, are Central School for Tibetans (CST) Darjeeling, CST Kalimpong, CST Dalhousie, CST Shimla, CST Mussoorie and CST Herbertpur.

Sikyong has stressed the importance of this transfer for both the schools’ administration and for the future of the students attending them.

He has expressed concern about the decreasing number of Tibetan students in enrolling in Tibetan schools across India, with a 50% decrease in the number of Tibetan students over the last decade. The decrease is reported as being the result of the drop in new comers from Tibet since 2008, the economic development of Tibetan families who now send their children to Indian schools in cities, and also the large number of Tibetans migrating to the West.

“The Central School for Tibetans (CST) Shimla, for instance, has a total of 351 students at the moment. [Of these] 351, only 13 are Tibetans while 253 are local Indians and the other 85 are from Himalayan regions. The situation is almost the same in most other Tibetan schools too,” said Sikyong.

Sikyong Penpa Tsering made the official visit to schools along with the CTA’s Department of Education’s Secretary Jigme Namgyal and STSS Director Tsering Dhondup.

Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj

Phayul reported on September 21 that “Himachal Pradesh Urban Development Minister Suresh Bhardwaj has written to leaders in the capital […] urging [them] not to hand over central Tibetan schools to an NGO overseen by the CTA”.

Phayul’s report continues, “In the letter, Bhardwaj said that the overwhelming majority of the students in those schools are Indian and that Tibetan students constitute a very small percentage. ‘Tibetans are running their own administered schools in the areas where they can accommodate their students, whereas the Indian students have no other option but to drop out from the schools if these schools are handed over to the Tibetan NGO,’ Bhardwaj said. […] The Indian government reportedly directed CTA in May to undergo administration change by March 31, 2022”.

Secretary Jigme Namgyal, speaking to Phayul, said that the enrolled students in those schools will not be affected, “The transition won’t affect the students already enrolled and the curriculum will remain the same as per the CBSE guidelines. We will only provide better resources and facilities in the concerned schools.”