CTA Commences 8th General Conference on Education
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA, 7 Jan: The Education Department of the Central Tibetan Administration(CTA) began its 8th General Conference on Education today at the Sikyong hall here at Gangchen-Kyishong, the exile headquarters of the Tibetan people.
The conference brought together around 206 teachers and administrative heads from all Tibetan schools in India, Nepal, and Bhutan, which includes 24 representatives from Homes Foundation, 60 from Tibetan Children’s Villages, 91 from Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society, 21 from Schools under Snow Lion Foundation, and 10 representatives from autonomous schools.
Penpa Tsering, Sikyong (President) of the CTA, in his address, said, “Next time, we will try to incorporate representatives from Tibetan educational institutions in foreign countries apart from India, Nepal, and Bhutan.”
The three-day conference represents the largest discourse and debate session on education in the Tibetan exile community. It is held every five years to assess the outcomes of the previous five-year plan and to set new policies in tune with the emerging developments in Tibetan schools and in the education landscape of the diasporic community.
“This is a conference where historic decisions have been made in the past, and I hope this year, the discourse will also make some historic decisions towards the progression of our society,” said Jigme Namgyal, the Secretary of the CTA’s Department of Education.
In the last one and a half decades, Tibetan schools have witnessed a sharp decline in the number of student enrollments, which has led to the closure of some schools as well as drastic restructuring in the schools and their larger governing bodies.
The first of four central issues of the conference will address the issue of improving educational quality by merging schools in the face of the said development. The session will also discuss disseminating secular ethics, promoting student-centered teaching methods, and how to provide education without relying on rewards and punishments.
The second session of the first day will address the increasing number of students with special needs and the declining attention span in students due to prolonged screen time.
Issues ranging from effectively utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the teaching-learning process to Chinese colonial boarding in occupied Tibet and enhancing teachers’ status and prestige are going to be addressed at the conference, which is set to continue till January 9.
There are many causal links to the decreasing number of students, given the massive restrictions on the Tibet-India border since the 2008 uprising in Tibet, the growing number of Tibetans immigrating to the West, and low birth rates in the Tibetan community.
However, the larger systemic question points towards the notion and quality of education provided in schools, which largely depends on the intellectual caliber of teachers in schools and the facilities and support provided by the government. So it remains to be seen how the conference addresses the issues relating to enhancing teachers’ status and prestige.
Central themes of this year’s conference are timely and practical; however, they don’t seem to encompass the broader question of why the decline is happening and its impact on Tibetans as a marginalized community with an eroding history.
Tharlam Dolma Changra, Kalon (Minister) of CTA’s Education Department, said, “Declining number of students is not a fault of the department and schools”.
