REMARKS BY DAVID MISSALS (TIBET INITIATIVE DEUTSCHLAND) AT SINO EURO VOICES CONFERENCE 30 SEPTEMBER 2022
Approx. 800,000 Tibetan children between 6 and 18 years are living in colonial boarding schools (78% of Tibetan students); unknown number of 4 & 5-year-olds
• Boarding schools specifically target Tibetans and other “ethnic minorities,” as the rate of Chinese students in boarding schools is dramatically lower
• As part of China’s “school consolidation policy” at the beginning of the millennium, many rural schools all over China were closed and merged into boarding schools. In 2012, the state council curbed this trend due to popular outcry.
• But not in so-called “minority regions”: In 2015, the State Council called for “strengthening boarding school construction” to “realize the long-term stability of the country”.
• Result: In Tibetan areas much more children are sent to boarding schools. 14.1 % of rural elementary children are boarding all over China, in the Tibetan Autonomous Region almost 80% of elementary school children are on boarding schools (2018).
• risk of losing their mother tongue and connection to their cultural identity (classes in Chinese, live apart from families & culture)
• In 2018, the State Council called for “actively carrying out educational and teaching activities [in boarding schools] that are conducive to promoting ethnic unity and integration, and guide students to widely use the national language [i.e., Chinese] in school life and learning.“
• In January 2021, a committee of the National People’s Congress ruled that local regulations permitting schools to use minority languages are “incompatible with the Chinese Constitution.“ In July 2021, the Ministry of Education ordered that all “ethnic and rural” kindergartens (usually ages three to five) must operate in Mandarin by fall 2021.
• Supported by witness statements from Tibet. Quote of elementary school teacher: „In [my area] it is mandatory to send children aged four and above to boarding schools. Usually there are very few Tibetan teachers; the majority are Chinese. So teachers only speak in Mandarin and conduct all school curriculum in Mandarin, including nursery rhymes and bedtime stories. When they join primary school at age seven, hardly any of them can speak Tibetan.“
• parents have no choice: are compelled to send their children to boarding schools due to a lack of alternatives; intimidation and threats are used to coerce reluctant parents to send their children to such schools
• police officers coming to villages threatening parents, fines imposed on parents
• result of boarding schools: emotional and psychological distress, including extreme feelings of loneliness and isolation
• In 2016, a survey-based study by a Tibetan researcher showed “alienation” in Tibetan youths attending rural colonial boarding schools in Qinghai: More than one in three children were experiencing high levels of alienation. They found Tibetan children developed an inability to connect in a meaningful way with others.
• Why? individual accounts of sexual harassment, bullying and making students to reject their own roots. And: contact to family heavily restricted
• In Sichuan, Chinese researchers documented that, due to distance and difficult travel, as many as 80% of Tibetan children do not return home during the school year (even for holidays). Even phone calls are regulated; at one school in Sichuan, children are only allowed 3 minutes per day to call home from a landline in a security guard’s office. In Qinghai, at one school: policy – children to turn in their cell phones while they are at the school.
• Study by another Chinese researcher on TAR boarding school students recalls scenes: parents attempting to visit their children in Lhasa. Shut out of the school grounds, family members periodically tried to meet their children at a fence in order to bring the children treats or daily necessities. However, this was discouraged by administrators and teachers, who told the children they would lose academic points if they went to the fence.
• End with two quotes of the researcher:
• “A girl in the fourth grade told me her parents did not come, I asked her if she wanted [her] parents to come? She replied that she didn’t want them to come. She told her parents not to come to school because points would be deducted if they came to the school. ‘If the points [were] not deducted, [would] you want them to come?’ She nodded while carrying on cleaning.”
• “I saw a little boy from second grade talking to a parent across the fence, looking back while talking, frowning, worried that the teacher on duty would catch him and deduct points…The students hurriedly took things from their parents and ran back. The expression on the little boy‘s face [indicated] that he wanted to cry….”
• We believe these colonial boarding schools have to be shut down immediately to prevent Tibetan identity to be further eradicated.
殖民式寄宿學校——中國根除藏族認同的戰略措施
作者 David Missals
在柏林「自由民主人權的保衛戰——2022年中國民主化國際媒體研討會」上的演講
據統計，我們知道大約有 800,000 名 6 至 18 歲的藏族兒童住在殖民式寄宿學校（佔藏族學生的 78%）；4 歲和 5 歲兒童的數量不詳。寄宿學校專門針對藏族和其他「少數民族」，中國學生在寄宿學校的比例要低得多。
千禧年之初，中國推出了「學校合併政策」，全國各地許多農村學校被關閉並併入寄宿學校。 2012年，由於民眾的強烈抗議，國務院遏制了這一趨勢。但在所謂的「少數民族地區」這種趨勢並未停止。
2015 年，國務院要求「加強寄宿制學校建設」，以實現國家長治久安。結果，在藏區有更多的孩子被送到寄宿學校。中國有 14.1% 的農村小學生實行寄宿制，西藏自治區近 80% 的小學生都在寄宿制學校（2018 年）。
失去母語與文化身份認同的風險
學校只授中文課程，孩子們遠離家庭和藏族文化。
2018 年，國務院要求「積極開展有利於促進民族團結融合的教育教學活動，引導學生在學校生活中廣泛使用國語（即漢語）學習。
2021 年 1 月，全國人大委員會裁定，原來允許學校使用少數民族語言的地方性法規「不符合中國憲法」。2021 年 7 月，教育部下令所有「民族和農村」幼兒園（通常3 至 5 歲）必須在 2021 年秋季之前以普通話操作。
小學老師的話：「在我所在的地區，必須將四歲及以上的兒童送到寄宿學校。通常藏語老師很少，大多數是中國人。所以老師們只說普通話，並用普通話教授所有學校課程，包括童謠和睡前故事。當他們七歲上小學時，幾乎沒有人會說藏語。
父母別無選擇,被迫將孩子送到寄宿學校
由於沒有其他選擇，父母被迫將孩子送到寄宿學校。用恐嚇和威脅來脅迫不情願的父母將孩子送到這些學校。警察進村威脅父母，對拒絕合作的父母處以罰款。
寄宿學校造成孩子們的心理病態
孩子們有情緒和心理上的困擾，包括極度的孤獨和孤立的恐懼感。
2016 年，一名藏族研究人員進行的一項調查研究顯示，在青海農村殖民寄宿學校上學的藏族青年，多半有一種「疏離感」，超過三分之一的兒童因高度疏離感而困惑。他們發現藏族兒童無法以有意義的方式與他人建立聯繫。
還有性騷擾、欺凌和讓學生切斷自己的根，與家人的聯繫受到嚴格限制。
在四川，中國研究人員記錄到，由於距離遙遠和旅行困難，多達 80% 的藏族兒童在學年期間（即使是假期）都不回家。甚至電話也受到監管，在四川的一所學校，每天只允許孩子們在保安辦公室用固定電話給家裡打電話 3 分鐘。在青海，某一所學校的政策是，孩子們在校期間必須上交手機。
另一位中國研究人員對西藏自治區寄宿學校學生的研究，其中描述這樣的場景：父母試圖在拉薩探望他們的孩子，卻被學校拒之門外。家庭成員定期試圖隔著柵欄與子女見面，為孩子們送來零食或日常用品。然而，管理人員和老師不鼓勵這種做法，他們告訴學生們，如果他們去圍欄，會被扣去學業分數。
以研究人員的兩句話作結語
一個四年級的女孩告訴我，她的父母沒有來看她，我問她想不想父母來？她回答說不想。她要求父母不要來學校，因為如果他們來學校就會被扣分。 「如果不扣分，你想讓他們來嗎？」她一邊打掃一邊點頭。
「我看到一個二年級的小男孩隔著柵欄和家長說話，邊說邊回頭，皺著眉頭，擔心值班老師會抓到他扣分。學生們匆忙從家長手裡拿了東西就往回跑。小男孩臉上的表情看上去，他很想哭…」
我認為必須立即關閉這些殖民式的寄宿學校，以防止藏人認同感被進一步連根拔除。
譯者 廖天琪
柏林西藏協會大衛•米薩爾斯（David Missals），在柏林「自由民主人權的保衛戰——2022年中國民主化國際媒體研討會」上演講視頻：
