The School System

All the schools for Tibetan children in India and Nepal can be categories into three groups.

1. Those schools subsidized by the Government of India through the Ministry of Education are managed and administrated by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration(CTSA). In this body, the majority of the members on the Governing body is made up of Government officials nominated by the Government of India.

   The Central Tibetan Schools Administration runs 35 schools of which four are residential and 31 are day schools.

   There are about 10500 Tibetan Children studying in four senior secondary schools(classes I to XII), four secondary schools( classes I to X), nine middle schools(classes I to VIII) and 18 primary schools(Classes I to V). All these schools are co-educational with almost equal ratio of boys and girls. The four residential schools can presently accommodate 1950 boarders, boys and girls.

   The Boarders pay Rs. 117/- a month for ten academic months a year. This amount is originally worked out to pay mainly for everything except tuition, textbooks, stationery and lodging. However, the actual basic needs works to Rs.153.35 per child per month. As most of the parents are too poor to make up the differences, the Council for Tibetan Education has been requesting the Central Tibetan Schools Administration to meet the difference required and the matter is to be taken up at the Governing Body of Central Tibetan Schools Administration.

2. In the second category are the 29 schools financed and managed by the Council for Tibetan Education. Out of these 5 are up to the middle school level and the remaining 24 are at the primary level. So far only 1 of these schools have residential facility apart from a hostel in Kathmandu. Despite the great need for the hostel accommodation, particularly for children whose parents are required to be away constantly from their homes to make a living and parents whose settlement has only up to the primary or middle school level. In these schools there were 3427 children on roll by the end of 1984. Out of the 141 members of the staff in these schools 97 are teachers and the rest are employed in various other capacities. Some of these teachers are undergoing further training with encouragement and assistance from the council for the Tibetan Education. Good and qualified teachers have no difficulty in finding employment in better paid private schools but many of our teachers sacrifice higher paid jobs to serve the more needy children of their community. The present Council for Tibetan Education budget allows only relatively low pay scales varying from Rs.450 /-to Rs.600/- a month for teachers in different categories and Rs.250/- to Rs.300/- for non-teaching staff. Unlike other schools, the Council for Tibetan Education's budget does not allow facilities like free accommodation, provident fund and so on.

   The council for Tibetan Education bears the full expenses of running these schools and hostels. The expenses per child in a boarding school amount to about Rs.253.35 per month. Expenditure per child in a day school averages at Rs.100-172. In addition, the Council for Tibetan Education tries to find sponsors for needy families and gives them stipend varying form Rs.30 to Rs.60 a month, according to individual sponsorships received , as supplementary for the child.

3. The third category of schools is run by the two institutions- the Tibetan Children Village(TCV) in Dharamsala, and the Tibetan Homes Foundation (THF), in Mussoorie. The main objective of these schools is to provide a good schooling to the children under the care of these 2 institutions and at the same time extend this facility to many other Tibetan children as possible.

   Over the years they have set up their own schools and handicraft training centers. The Tibetan Children's Village School in Dharamsala has up to the senior secondary school level (Classes I to XII). The Tibetan Homes Foundation School in Mussoorie has up to the middle school level so far. These children after completing their middle school are sent to the Central Tibetan Schools Administration run in school in Mussoorie to finish their Senior Secondary school. In addition the Tibetan Homes Foundation has a primary school in Rajpur, Dehradun. About 3900 children are currently studying in the schools or attending a traditional vocational training run by these two organizations.

Tibetan Education, 25 Years in Exile, 1985 Edition