With increasing effort being put in to lifting the level of
education in Tibet, the population is expected to achieve its goal
of popularizing compulsory education up to the ninth grade, largely
eliminating illiteracy among the new generation of children during
the formative years of their lives. The Minister of Education, Chen
Zhili, noted at a National Education to Aid Tibet working
conference on October 15, that the national education system is
bound by duty to accelerate the development of education and
advance the needs of the people in Tibet.
The central government always gives priority to Tibetan education.
Such working conferences were held in 1987 and 1993, mobilizing and
organizing developed provinces and cities to assist and support
education in the area. Over the past decade or so, the government
has allocated 445 million yuan (US$54 million) to education
development, fulfilling 15 primary objectives and 45 secondary
objectives such as building and refurbishing county schools,
constructing educational satellite information stations,
implementing compulsory education up to the ninth grade in
disadvantaged areas, improving the infrastructure of higher
learning institutions by implementing computer networks and
Internet facilities at universities, and training a large number of
schoolmasters, teachers and officials within Tibet. Fifteen
hinterland provinces and cities have invested a total of 220
million yuan (US$27 million) to rebuild Tibetan primary and
secondary schools. In the mean time, many teachers from counterpart
universities across the whole country have been appointed to assist
with Tibetan education.
Today, owing to the rapid development of the Tibetan schooling
system, the education level of the population has increased
enormously. By the end of 2001, the total number of students in
Tibet had reached 397 thousand, up 71.68 percent since 1993, the
proportion of children going to schools was 87.2 percent, up 26.8
percent from 1993 and the total area of schools rose 59.2 percent
from 760 thousand square meters in 1993 to 1,210 thousand square
meters in 2001. Tibet achieved its goal of establishing a primary
school in every village and a middle school in every county. Five
counties have carried through the nine grades compulsory education
program and illiteracy is down to 38.1 percent.
Chen Zhili also noted that owing to historical and environmental
reasons the basic level of Tibetan education is still rather poor,
with a big gap still existing between Tibet and surrounding areas.
There are still many difficulties to be faced in popularizing
compulsory education up to the ninth grade, such as the low quality
of social development and a shortage of qualified personnel, making
education assistance in Tibet as hard as ever.
According to the Ministry of Education, the main tasks and policies
of education aid to Tibet during the 2001-05 period consist of
continuing the operation of hinterland schools for Tibetan students
with the investment of an additional 100 million yuan (US$12
million) by government for the purchase of infrastructure and
equipment. One or several cities from the 18 surrounding provinces
and municipalities each assist a Tibetan county to rebuild two
schools, bringing the total to 148. The 18 provinces and
municipalities helped rebuild 14 Tibetan secondary technical and
vocational schools.
In
order to further strengthen the official training of Tibet, from
2003 to 2007, 20 hinterland higher learning institutions, together
with Southwest Jiaotong
University, will assist three Tibetan higher learning
institutions, including Tibet University. Eight universities,
including Renmin University of China, will establish authorized
training bases to train 1,980 Tibetan officials over the next five
years, including 1,550 graduates and 430 postgraduates.
A
further increase in the amount of Tibetan students enrolled in
hinterland higher learning institutions and hinterland Tibetan
classes is expected, expanding the enrollment scope from 1,200 in
2002 to about 4,900 each year. Additionally, 13 universities,
including China
Agricultural University, will enroll 500 pre-assigned students,
by lowering enrollment scores and job-oriented training and
assignments, in Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Liaoning,
Shandong, Shannxi, Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Yunnan, Ningxia, Qinghai,
Gansu among other provinces. In the mean time 800 selected
non-Tibetan graduates will be assigned to work in Tibet.
(china.org.cn by Li Xiao, October 26, 2002)