Presented by Tsering Dhundup

Introduction

Before beginning my presentation, I want to first say that I am extremely glad to be here at the California State University, Fullerton to participate in the East-West Education Seminar, which is being organized in collaboration with the Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. It is our hope that the seminar will serve to bring Tibetan and non-Tibetan educators together to engage in productive dialogue that might contribute towards effectively preparing of our children to live in today's increasingly interdependent world and help them become contributing members of society.

My paper is on the problems and challenges of financing the education of Tibetan refugee children and youth in exile. In 1959, when we came into exile as a result of China's occupation of Tibet, one of the most pressing concerns of His Holiness the Dalai Lama was the need to provide care and education to the hundreds of destitute Tibetan children who had escaped with their parents and relatives. He appealed to the then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who on seeing the plight of the children extended generous help by establishing separate schools for Tibetan refugee children where they will receive a good modern education while at the same time learn their language and cultural heritage. Since the establishment of the first Tibetan school in1960 with an enrollment of 50 students the exile school movement has grown leaps and bounds during the last four decades. Today in exile we have 106 pre-primary, 87 primary, 44 middle, 23 secondary and 13 senior secondary level schools spread across three countries namely India, Nepal and Bhutan with an enrollment of over twenty seven thousand children. In addition, institutes providing vocational training, teacher training, courses in traditional music and performing arts have also been established.

The total annual expenditure on education has been increasing greatly every year. In 1996 alone around 480 million Indian Rupees, nearly 11 million U.S. Dollars was spent on educating Tibetan refugee children. The main sources are the Government of India, the Tibetan Government -in- Exile, international non-governmental aid organizations, individual donors and parents. Today, the total annual expenditure on education is about half the financial resources of all central institutions of the Tibetan refugee community, which clearly reflects the immense priority given by our community to education.

Crucial Issues and Problems

Logistic difficulty and Lack of Revenue

The Tibetan refugees, though only numbering around one hundred and thirty thousand mostly live in agricultural settlements and cluster communities which are spread all over India, Nepal and Bhutan which makes the task of educating the children all the more daunting in view of the logistics involved and difficulty in reaching out to all the communities. Financing the education of increasing numbers of children through establishment of schools involving purchasing of land, constructing classrooms, employing teachers etc., has always been a major challenge. Moreover, it is enshrined in the Charter of the Tibetan People in Exile that no child is denied an education. Being a refugee community we have no way of generating revenue to finance the schools which makes the task all the more difficult.

Dependence on outside aid

A large chunk of the schools in India are completely funded by the Government of India for which we will remain ever grateful. A vast majority of the other Tibetan schools in India, Nepal and Bhutan are primarily funded by sponsorships received from international non-governmental organizations and individual donors. We realize that we cannot rely on their assistance permanently. Although we encourage parents of the children to pay required school fees, but due to various hardships, many of them are unable to afford. In such cases we have no choice but to find sponsors to help pay for the child's education. In many cases, the sponsors pay for the entire schooling of the child and in some cases even college. Annually around 85% of the students graduating school are able to pursue further studies on scholarships offered by the Government of India, international NGO's and individual sponsors. Without their assistance very few Tibetan students could afford college education.

Influx of new refugees from Tibet

Between 1989 and 1999 about 32000 new refugees have arrived from Tibet. A vast majority of them are children and youth who have escaped in the hope of getting a good education denied to them by the Chinese occupying Tibet. Most of the children have been accommodated in the existing schools while special schools have been set up for the adolescent and young adults. Every year around 3000 new refugees arrive from Tibet. This non-stop influx of new refugees has put immense strain on the community's educational resources. So far we have managed to successfully accommodate them mainly due to the immense commitment by the exile community and with the generous financial assistance from international aid organizations.

Need to improve the quality of education

Conclusions of various studies and reports on Tibetan education in exile generally indicate the need to further improve the quality of education provided in the schools in order that our children can confidently face the challenges posed by new ideas and technology. We understand the significance of factors such as improving teacher training and in-service programs, introduction of innovative teaching techniques and aids and improving the quality of textbooks and other reading materials that affect the quality of education. Yet, we fail to adequately meet these requirements, primarily due to shortage of funds.

Need to upgrade facilities in the schools

Based on the sampling survey of 55 schools, which include most of the large residential schools, a large majority did not have any computers. In those that did have, there was only one computer for every 50 students. Very few schools possess an auditorium and nearly half the schools had inadequate or no school health clinics at all. Only few schools had teacher resource centers having teaching aids to facilitate instruction in the classrooms. We realize that it is crucial to improve or upgrade the facilities provided in the schools but are not been able to do so due to lack of resources.

Challenges Ahead

We realize that the main challenge ahead for the Tibetan exile community will be how to generate adequate resources from within the community to sustain our schools and the other existing educational programs. In addition, we need to bring about further improvement in the facilities and quality of education provided to our children and youth. This will most certainly require parents assuming a greater share of the responsibility in meeting the expenses involved in educating their child. Fortunately this is already happening. Unlike in the early years in exile when most of the refugees were destitute and unable to support themselves, leave aside educating their children, today an increasing number of parents expect the best possible education for their children and are willing to pay for it. As a result, some of the Tibetan schools are close to the point of becoming completely self-sustaining through fees collected from parents. This is no doubt a very encouraging development.

Over the years more and more Tibetans are graduating from colleges and have acquired different job skills and most are able to find employment. As a result they are becoming more and more financially independent and therefore less dependent on outside assistance for educating their children. This development is very encouraging as it has always been our aim to make our people in exile self-reliant.

Another development that has taken place in recent years is that many Tibetans who have settled in other countries and have done well economically are coming forward to help by sponsoring the school education of destitute and orphan children and some offer scholarships for college education. Some are even funding limited infrastructure projects in some schools. This is certainly one area that holds a lot of potential for the future and needs to be further explored.

However, we are still far from becoming self-supporting owing to limitations, which is primarily due to the fact of our being refugees and because of which we have no scope of generating revenue that could be allocated for education which other nations do through collection of taxes. So it does appear that to meet the entire expanding needs and requirements for educating our children, the Tibetan community in exile will have to depend on outside assistance for some time to come.

In conclusion, the task of financing the education of thousands of Tibetan children and youth in exile is by no means easy especially since being refugees we have very little resources at our disposal. Thanks to the timely assistance received mainly from the Government of India, international non-governmental aid organizations and individual donors an entire generation of children and youth have received education in exile. We believe that they are the future seeds of Tibet who will carry on our national task, be it political or spiritual. We recognize that measures need to be taken to overcome certain crucial issues or problems namely improving the quality of education and facilities in the schools and to meet the challenge of reducing the dependence on external aid and to strive to become self-supporting with dignity. Therefore, we Tibetans in exile have a immense challenge ahead in our task to continue to build a bright future for our children and nation through education.

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