The Education System as a Tool for Preserving the Identity of Tibetan Refugees in India

Abstract

compares the classical monastic and modern secular education systems. It comprises the following sections: “Composition and Status of the Tibetan Diaspora in India”, “Educational Policy of the Central Tibetan Administration”, “Classical Monastic Education”, “Modern Secular Education”, and “Brief Historical Background of Secular Education System among the Tibetan Diaspora”. The annexation of Tibet by China in the late 1950s caused a significant outflow of the population to neighboring states, primarily to India, where in 1959, the so-called Tibetan government in exile was created. Currently, about 150,000 Tibetans live outside Tibet. The largest concentration of the Tibetan population is in India and Nepal; there are also Tibetan communities in Bhutan, Europe, and the USA. Numerous factors, such as the change in traditional ways of life, population migration to big cities, and the influence of Western popular culture, resulted in the risks for Tibetan diasporas to lose their ethnocultural identity. The educational policy conducted by the Central Tibetan administration aims at preserving the ethnocultural identity, spreading and popularizing the study of the Tibetan language in the diaspora through a combination of the classical monastic education system and the latest achievements of the modern Western education model. This article provides a comparative analysis of the two educational systems, describes the main educational programs of secular education, and provides data on the composition and status of the Tibetan diaspora in India, describing ethnocultural strategies for maintaining