Delhi eye on Tibetan schools
Posted by barunroy on March 29, 2008
By CHARU SUDAN KASTURI| New Delhi, March 28: A hoarding screaming for support against the alleged incarceration of the Panchen Lama by China covers the front wall outside the primary school for Tibetans in north Delhi’s Majnu ka Tilla.
Inside, English teacher Rinchen Tsering (name changed) battles a sense of suffocation. [Inset: Children at a school for Tibetans in Delhi on Friday. Picture by Prem Singh]
“I feel like a prisoner. I want to participate in the protests, but we have been ordered not to miss school at any cost. Also, we have been warned that if we get caught protesting even outside work hours, we may lose our jobs,” says Tsering as a gaggle of six-year-old girls crowds around her.
India has asked the 79 schools it runs for Tibetans to ensure that their students and teachers are not identified with the raging protests against China in the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics.
The schools are run by the Central Tibetan Schools Administration (CTSA), set up by the Indian government at the request of the Dalai Lama in 1961 — a year before the country was sucked into a war against China.
The schools — primary, secondary or higher secondary — are spread across the country. Some offer residential facilities as well.
Teachers like Tsering at the schools — called Central Schools for Tibetans (CST) — are employees of the Indian government. Students study for free here.
“We are concerned because we do not want a situation where the Chinese can say ‘look, Tibetan students from your government’s schools are protesting against us’. The situation will be even more embarrassing if teachers participated in the protests,” a senior official of the human resource development ministry said.
The decision appears laced with paranoia, though.
On Thursday, Indian intelligence officials questioned the principal and teachers of the primary school at Majnu ka Tilla, near Delhi University, after they learnt that a few students had gone to Chanakyapuri, sources said.
Tibetan protesters had broken into the compound of the Chinese embassy – also in Chanakyapuri – a few days ago, leading to a post-midnight reprimand for India’s ambassador to Beijing, Nirupama Rao.
“We received frantic calls asking where the children had gone. These are little kids. It was funny because the officials appeared concerned about what the children might do,” a CTSA official said.
The students – 30 in all – had only gone to the American school run by the US embassy as invited guests for an event. The students were accompanied by three teachers, sou-rces said.
D.S. Singh, the principal of the CST primary school in Majnu ka Tilla, confirmed the incident.
“I have been principal of the school for over three decades. Never have I allowed a teacher or student to participate in protests during school hours,” Singh said.
The CTSA is jointly run by three Indian ministries. Possibly the only Indian school education institution with an official of the home ministry on its governing body, the CTSA also has representatives from the HRD and foreign mi–istries in decision-making po-sitions. Four representatives of the Dalai Lama are on the governing body.
The Indian government communication bars the use of school premises and property for protests. It also disallows any student or teacher from spending school time engaging in any protests.
Officials said teachers and older students in several of the CSTs had been demanding that the schools be shut for a day to allow them to participate in the agitation. Some principals, the officials said, had communicated their concerns to the government.
“Our aim is not to scare Tibetans or anyone else. We want to help the principals counter demands to close the school on days of planned protests. The principals need some weapon to challenge the demand,” an official said.
Although the government has not laid down specific restrictions on activities after school hours, teachers and students said they did not “expect to be spared if caught protesting”.
“It is evident to everyone here that a teacher detained by police for protesting is likely to lose his or her job, irrespective of whether the incident occurs during school hours,” the principal of one of the five CSTs in Bengal said over the phone.
“In any case, most protests take place during daytime when school is on,” the principal added.
