SPONSORSHIP PROGRAM

The important undertaking of providing education for Tibetan children in exile would not have been possible without the timely and unstinting assistance of the Government of India and vast number of donors around the world. The Indian Government has been and is the biggest benefactor. Till 1975 the Government of India not only provide free schooling to all the children in the schools run by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration( formerly Tibetan Schools Society) but also provided free board and lodging to all those in the Residential Schools. Since 1975 however, the Government of India decided to charge a nominal sum of Rs100/- initially, which at present has been increased to Rs 117/- per boarder a month in the Residential Schools. Apart form these schools run by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration, its continued aid in other areas greatly help in the education of Tibetan Children.

It became necessary for the Council for Tibetan Education to find sponsors for these children following the decision of 1975 to charge a fee for the up keep of the boarders in the hostels.

For various social and economical reasons, majority of the parents have4 no option but to send their children to a residential School in order to provide a meaningful schooling. Most of them live in remote areas trekking out a living as an unskilled laborer, Or those that are in some settlements, are away for good part of the year to make some earnings to supplement their income from the settlement which is very little. Thus sponsors for their children become very necessary for their education.

In 1981 when an organization with very substantial support from individuals in the Scandinavian countries had to fold due to some internal problem the CTE was left in a dilemma as this organization was most kindly sponsoring some 3000 Tibetan Children. The proceeds from this sponsorship program not only enabled a schooling facility for these children but also helped to run some primary schools and hostels. As a result, the Council for Tibetan Education had to make special appeals all over. After a very difficult and anxious year or two, individuals and organization responded generously. But the Norwegian SOS with the blessing of SOS International, took a very special undertaking to help these affected children. Thanks to their effort and hard work much of the problem got sorted out gradually and more than 50% of these children are now with a sponsor.

SELECTION OF CHILDREN FOR SPONSORSHIP
Selection is made by the local representative of the Tibetan secretariat in consultation with the local Tibetan People's Committee. The selection is, of course ,based on the social and economical background- the most needy ones receiving priority. The Council for Tibetan Education further assess each case, mainly to check that aid is not being duplicated and it then forwards them to prospective sponsors. The Council for Tibetan Education then arranges their admission in these schools take some time. The rate of sponsorship average around Rs.80/- per month and the balance amount required to pay in a Residential School met by the Council for Tibetan Education form the Tibetan Children's Education from the Tibetan Educational and Welfare fund..

ADMISSION SYSTEM IN RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
In the five residential schools of Mussoorie, Shimla, Darjeeling, Dalhousie and Poanta Sahib, managed and run by the Council for Tibetan Education, there are 2028 students. The Council for Tibetan Education try to admit as many new children as possible in these schools each year. Vacant seats available in the schools are always less than the number of children needing admission. The council for Tibetan Education maintains a waiting list for each Residential School and admission is granted strictly on a first come served basis from the list, except in very special cases. The children in the Council for Tibetan Education's waiting list, no matter how high up on the waiting list can be admitted in a Residential School only after those children who have passed out either from class V, VII or X form a day school run by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration in a settlement are admitted. The following is the number of children admitted in these 5 Residential Schools in the last 9 years including the ones who passed out from the day schools run by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration in the settlements.

Year	Total
1976	533
1977	472
1978	251
1979	271
1980	392
1981	219
1982	381
1983	338
1984	285
Total	2857

There are still 357 children in the Council for Tibetan Education's waiting list for admission in one of these schools.

REPORTS FOR SPONSORS
A half and an annual progress report of each child is sent to their sponsor along with a personal letter form the sponsored child. Examinations are conducted in December and July each year. Photographs of children are also sent once a year to the respective sponsors. There are many sponsors who take a close interest in their ward's academic as well as general welfare and this gives the child a feeling of belonging.

LETTERS TO SPONSORS
Regular communication between the sponsor and the sponsored child is important. The Council for Tibetan Education feels that this relationship should develop into a firm and lasting friendship. Communication is normally through letters and in certain cases the sponsors personally visit their wards. These children that are very young have to be helped to write simple letters in English to their sponsors and they may send drawings or some other individual contribution. The older children write their own . Generally, a child writes 2 letters, half yearly and a yearly greeting card which the Council for Tibetan Education forwards to the sponsors along with the progress Report. Understandably, some of the sponsors prefer to correspond with the children directly. Here the problem is that once the child has the address of the sponsor, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends tend to flood the sponsor with request which most of the sponsor resent. To control this, the Council for Tibetan Education tries to channel all the correspondences through it in spite of the huge amount of work involved. Due to this also the Council for Tibetan Education has to limit to 2 letters a year from the child although more is preferable. The Council for Tibetan Education, would encourage the sponsors to write their ward/wards as often as possible.

PRESENTS FROM SPONSORS:
Apart form the sponsorship money, some sponsor also send small gift articles of warm clothing such as gloves, woolen tights and scarves which are always welcomed by the children attending schools in the colder parts of north India and Nepal. Light garments are sent for children studying in the plains. Apart from the 200 children or so being sponsored by Tibetans, about 2500 are presently receiving sponsorship of one kind or another from individual and various voluntary organizations.

CRECHES AND COMMUNITY HEALTH:
As the number of working mothers with young children continued to grow each year it was decided to open crèches for them in1980. This program was started with 86 units with 25 children in each unit. It has now grown to 127 units. The Council for Tibetan Education assess and work out to see where and how many units in various Tibetan community is needed and then applies to the Central Social Welfare Board, Government of India, which in turn assess each case. All those that meet the requirement for such assistance, the cases are approved and 90% of the prescribed expenses given by the CSWB while the balance 10% is met by the parents. The contract with the CSWB is entered by the CTE which is responsible for the proper functioning of these crèches and keeping a proper for each unit.

The Council for Tibetan Education in 1981 began its community health workers training program and the first group of six, mostly Montessori- trained teachers, were selected to undergo a three months training. Under this program 37 persons, mostly teachers, have been trained by the end of 1984 and are presently working in various settlements. At the same time, booklets giving simple remedies for common ailments were distributed in areas where there is no doctors. These booklets, specially designed for conditions in rural India were produced by the Voluntary Health Association of India, and they have been distributed to settlement health workers. They deal with various aspects of health care from first aid to nutrition and most important, the stress is made on prevention of common disease whatever and wherever available, skimmed milk powder is distributed to all the schools to supplement nutritional requirements. These milk powder are donated by various relief and voluntary organizations round the world but the major and constant source for the Council for Tibetan Education has been from Save the Children Fund of U.K.

THE DICTIONARY PROJECT
Tibetan Children and adults have faced constant problem caused by their restricted technical vocabulary. The Council for Tibetan Education therefore decided to produce a standard modern dictionary featuring both Tibetan -English and English - Tibetan entries.

The ancient Tibetan language has by and large evolved terms that are admirably suited to the expression and interpretation of Buddhist dialectics and philosophy but which are inadequate in the context of modern and science and technology. Children are being taught mathematics, physics and chemistry in English and often they have great difficulty in finding equivalent words in Tibetan. In June 1979, the dictionary project was started under the editorship of Mr. Karma Monlam and guidance of Mr. Lobsang T Rikha, then the secretary of the Council for the Tibetan Education. Mr. Lobsang T Rikha, started working on it full time as the editor, after he resigned as the Secretary of the Council for Tibetan Education . Initially the plan was to bring out a pocket sized English-Tibetan dictionary but later on it was decided to produce a more comprehensive compilation. An external advisory body made up of Tibetans fluent both in English and Tibetan has been set up. Its function is to propose and subsequently select suitable Tibetan equivalents for modern terms.

The project received financial support from the Tibetan Children's Village in the first year, and in the 2nd year from the Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussorie. Since then the Council for Tibetan Education has been fully financing the project, including the salaries of two persons employed to work on this.

Tibetan Education, 25 Years in Exile, 1985 Edition