China announces new 'bilingual' policy for Tibet pre-schools

Tibetan autonomous region's education department announced that all children in farming and herding areas would receive at least two years of free pre-school education in Tibetan and Putonghua (Mandarin) by 2015.

"By then, at least 60 per cent of Tibetan children will attend kindergarten, compared with the current 24.5 per cent," the state-run Xinhua news agency quoted a department spokesman as saying.

The move is aimed at improving the early childhood education of Tibetans, who largely rely on farming and herding for a living, besides improving children's proficiency in both Tibetan and Mandarin and preparing them for formal school education, he said.

The new policy was announced in the aftermath of reported demonstrations by schools students in several places in the Tibetan-inhabited areas opposing the policy of compulsory study of Mandarin, apprehending that it would marginalise their language and culture.
The new plan also evoked criticism from Tibetans activists who said it was aimed at making sure that all Tibetans, including semi-nomadic herders, learn Mandarin.

Beijing-based Tibetan activist Tserang Woeser said the move indicated that the Chinese government was stepping up efforts to marginalise Tibetan language in Tibet