2.1 Academic Curriculum
Tibetan Schools in India, Nepal and Bhutan follow a school curriculum approved by a board of education which is recognized by their respective national government.
Tibetan language, history and culture, however, constitute a major part of the curriculum in all Tibetan schools. The DOE designs and publishes Tibetan language textbooks for all school grades.
The academic curriculum may briefly be surveyed under:
A) Pre-Primary Education
Both the Montessori and Kindergarten methods are practiced in the schools. TCV conducts 3 - 6 month courses for its teachers in the Montessori method where the medium of instruction is Tibetan. The DOE has developed and conducted a two-year Pre-Primary teacher training course at SOS-TCV Bylakuppe in line with requirements laid down by National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) based in New Delhi. However, no comprehensive and uniform syllabus has been formally developed for the pre-primary stage.
Despite the training programs mentioned above, 60% of the current pre-primary teachers in Tibetan schools are untrained. A large number of vacancies for trained pre-primary teacher posts exists in the Tibetan schools. The DOE has plans to organize more training programs and improve the quality of teachers at the pre-primary stage.
B) School Education
Tibetan schools in India for example, are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi, and follow the 10 +2 education pattern. This scheme consists of 10 years of general education and 2 years of a diversified curriculum. The 12 years of school education are divided into four levels: primary (class 1-5), middle (class 6-8), secondary (9-10) and senior secondary (class 11-12). Currently, four fields of study are offered at the senior secondary level in Tibetan schools: a) arts; b) science; c) commerce and d) vocational education. At the primary school level, the medium of instruction is in Tibetan. The medium however switches to English from Grade 6 onwards up to 12 through Tibetan language is taught as a subject.
C) Post School Education
Post school education is possible in the Indian Universities and a few Tibetan Institutes of Higher Studies. The details of this section is available under section 5.5.
2.2 Vernacularization program in Junior classes
In accordance with the wishes of H.H. the Dalai Lama and in conformity with the UNESCO charter, which underlined the fact that children learn best in their mother tongue, it was decided to switch the medium of instruction in the junior classes (classes 1 to 5) from English to Tibetan. Clearance from the Indian Government for this switch in the medium of instruction for the CTSA schools could not however be received at once and because of the inter related nature of CTSA schools and the DOE direct run schools, its implementation was first possible in the TCV schools in 1985. Since July 1994, DOE, Dharamsala, has been able to endorse the use of Tibetan as the language of instruction at the primary level ( grades 1 to 5) in all Tibetan schools. The necessary primary school textbooks are published by the Educational Development and Research Center (EDRC), based at the Tibetan Children's Village (TCV), Dharamsala. Apart from the switch in the medium of instruction, the vernacularization program seeks to build a relevant curriculum based on Tibetan cultural heritage, values and languages.
The vernacularization program has met with the approval of an overwhelming majority of the school administrators surveyed by the DOE opinion survey 1997 -98. 89.5 % of the administrators felt that it was good. A few suggestions were offered to make the switch even more successful:
- Science and social studies books need to be reviewed
- NCERT pattern should be adopted in the science textbooks
- Need to have a good translation section for math and science textbooks
- Primary teachers need to be adequately trained
2.3 Co-curricular activities
Tibetan schools conduct different co-curricular activities and games. Most Tibetan schools are divided into "Houses" and a common feature is Inter House and Inter school competitions in Games and sports together with other co curricular activities like Tibetan cultural performances, debates, dramas and quizzes. CTSA and DOE direct run schools have zonal competitions every alternate year with the winners from zonal competitions coming together for a Central meet. The TCV schools have their own Inter TCV school competitions in various fields. Other autonomous schools join the CTSA/DOE competitions or seek other local competitions with other schools.
According to the DOE opinion survey 1997-98, 84.2 % of school administrators said that they were satisfied with the co-curricular activities in their schools. However, only 17.3 % of the students said that in school they enjoy co- curricular activities the most. Interestingly, most of them (32.3 %) said that they enjoyed classroom activities the most. Sports and games was next at 30.8 %.
2.4 Tibetan cultural activities
The transmission of our rich culture to the younger generation is one of the most important aims of schooling in exile. As such, by far the most important co-curricular activity is the Tibetan cultural activities. Most of the schools have one or more Tibetan dance and drama teachers All the residential schools have religious instructors. Inter House and Inter school competitions in Tibetan cultural activities are often the highlight of many school calendars.
video shows of different Tibetan dances or aspects of history
making children wear traditional dresses on special occasions
holding exhibitions of Tibetan currencies, and dresses of different regions of Tibet
having weekly news on Tibet and Tibetans
arranging special periods for moral education
cultural classes on every first Sunday
encouraging students to join TYC, TWA and the Opera Association
To imbibe Tibetan culture among the children, teachers opined that they found the following activities most effective:
special talks on religion and other festivals of Tibet.
asking TIPA to perform on some important occasions.
debates and quizzes on various aspect of Tibet and Tibetan culture
cultural exhibitions
cultural exchange programs between different schools
Tibetan dance and drama competitions
Tibet our country project
offering Tsog and Sangsol on special occasions
The DOE survey also tried to find if, cultural transmission was active in the heart of the schools - the classrooms. Teachers said that they undertook the following activities to familiarize Tibetan culture among the children:
holding discussions and lectures on the current status of Tibet
showing photographs of Tibet, different regional dresses of Tibet and the Tibetan national flag.
making comparative studies of Tibet and other cultures
asking children to collect or bring to class different coins and notes of Tibet.
organizing class quizzes on various aspects of Tibet
describing our culture , such as opera, marriages, other customs, and traditions
explaining everyday Tibetan practices like why we offer butter lamp, incense , water to God etc.
getting children acquainted with our culture right from the lower classes
Besides the activities already listed, some schools do make arrangements for special cultural projects/activities such as:
inviting artists from TIPA to perform for the children
requesting Geshes and Abbots to give religious talks to the children
taking the children to the monasteries on special religious occasions
arranging various class/ school projects related to important themes connected with Tibet like Tibetan costumes or Festivals of Tibet
The Doe Survey 1997-98 contained a few questions that tried to explore students' views on important aspects of our culture. Some of the findings from these responses were:
Less than 10 % of the children said that they visited monasteries regularly, but 64.4 % said that they visited monasteries on special religious occasions.
70.2 % of the students said that they were good Buddhists because they understood the Buddha's teaching from among other choices that included frequently visit monasteries, have lots of statues at home and recite prayers frequently.
The majority (56.3%) felt that Tibetan cultural activities in school are sufficient but a good 30.4 % felt that the cultural activities in school were too few as against 13.2 % who felt that there were too many cultural activities in our schools.
almost half of all the students ( 49.8 %) felt that Tibetan culture was worth preserving to maintain national identity as against only 11.3 % who said that Tibetan culture was worth preserving because it had a lot to offer to the world.
2.5 Moral and value education
A few questions in the DOE survey 1997-97 tried to explore student behavior patterns and the kind of values that schools encouraged our children to develop.
School administrators for example were asked what value they most seek to instill in the children. The following are their responses:
Tibetan culture, ethical and moral/social values because these will result in happiness of the society .
Love, kindness and compassion.
Importance of education
Aesthetic values
Patriotic and co-operative
Maintain Tibetan identity
Pride in our culture and tradition
God fearing
Spending time and money on others ( others before self )
Teachers were asked to rank five specific values: creativity, conformity, initiative, obedience and punctuality in the order they felt was most important to be instilled in the children. Various combinations of rankings came up from which a mean typical ranking was computed:
- Punctuality
- Initiative
- Obedience
- Creativity
- Conformity
Children responses to some key questions on school, home, career counseling and the environment were:
An overwhelming majority of 93.2 % of the children said that they enjoyed going to school.
Nearly half of all the children (48.6 %) said that they help their parents when they are at home.
47.9 % of the children said that they normally (mostly) discuss their studies and school with their parents, while a good 20.2 % said that they mostly discussed Tibet related issues.
A huge majority of 70.2 % said that the most dominant advice they receive from their parents was to become a good human being.
3.5 % of the children were candid enough to admit that they never help their parents in house - work or business, while 25.9 % said that they regularly helped their parents. Most children (70.7 %) however, said that they helped their parents sometimes.
Only 22.5 % of the children said that they received career guidance from a career counselor. Most of them (39.5 %) said that they received career guidance from parents and elders, while another 27.7 % said that they received advice from teachers.
40.9 % of the children said that they help to improve the school environment by picking up plastic. However, only 11.3 % said that they learn about the importance of protecting the environment in the classrooms. Most of the children (43.4%) said they learn about it from magazines and television, while a small fraction (9.9 %) said that they learn about it in the SUPW programs.
Because of changing social and family structures, today, people are looking up to the schools to instill moral values among the youth. In the context of Tibetan schools, the most significant development in this area was the series of resolutions adopted at the Conference on Moral- Value Education, held at Dharamsala in August 1996. The following were the main resolutions passed on the agenda of Moral rehabilitation:
To make available to school children teachings of HH The Dalai Lama which are related to moral values. The Departments of Education and the Department of Religion, together with NGOs to be responsible for distribution of relevant books to schools.
To use all available media to educate the general public and the student community about the negative fallout of watching indecent movies and to prevent screening of any such movies in schools.
The DOE should try to appoint religious instructors at day schools in the bigger Tibetan settlements. Day schools should be encouraged to invite religious instructors of residential schools to talk to the students about moral ethics.
Religious and cultural instructors, as also other staff should present dramas to highlight important religious/ moral themes.
Student activities such as essay writing competitions on important aspects of Buddhist teachings and /or moral values should be encouraged.
DOE should encourage Tibetan writers and the general public to write articles/books on the unique religious and cultural heritage of Tibetans and on important Buddhist moral issues like the law of Karma. Such reading material should be distributed to all Tibetan schools.
The DOE should request heads of monasteries and nunneries to ensure that members of their community set the highest standards of morality for the student community to emulate.
The issuance of Good Conduct Certificates from schools should be emphasized and the DOE should approach the Kashag to ensure that such certificates get due consideration when candidates apply for any CTA jobs.
To ask religious instructors and other staff in schools to set excellent standards of morality for students to follow.
The DOE to form a committee to publish books on Moral Education suited to the mental level of the students.
Parents should be asked to assume greater responsibility for the moral development of their children, specially during vacations.
Copies of the various resolutions adopted at the Conference including the above ones were circulated widely to all schools, settlement offices, and other NGOs like the Tibetan Youth Congress and the Tibetan Women's Association. The implementation reports received from a majority of the institutions conveyed compliance of the above resolutions.
2.6 Day schools against boarding schools
Out of the 80 Tibetan schools, 34 schools have residential facilities while the remaining 46 are day schools.
An effort was made to ascertain the views of children on this important issue. According to the DOE opinion survey 1997-98, a large majority of the children ( 71.4 %) said that they preferred to study in boarding schools. 83.5 % of these children said that they preferred boarding school because there is more time to study. Over half of the students (51.1 %) who preferred being day scholars said that it was because it allowed them to stay with their parents.
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