China wants Tibetan students to take college entrance exams in Mandarin only

Lhasa [Tibet], June 15 : China has made the Mandarin language compulsory for the Tibetan students who took China's annual college entrance exam over the weekend, Radio Free Asia reported citing residents.

Radio Free Asia is a United States government-funded private non-profit news service that broadcasts radio programs and publishes online news, information, and commentary for its audiences in Asia.

From June 7-9, the exams took place across China which will decide the fate of 13 million students.

In previous years, ethnic minorities, including Tibetans were allowed to take the test in their native language but this year China made a big change. Chinese authorities asked Tibetans to give the test only in Mandarin. Also, ethnic minorities no longer get five extra minutes to complete the test as they had in the past, according to Radio Free Asia.

The Mandarin-only policy for the test is concurrent with other controversial education policies meant to establish Mandarin as the medium of instruction within Tibetan schools-which Tibetan activists say is part of Beijing's plan to eliminate Tibetan culture and Sinicize the region.

"In 2022, the Chinese government imposed the Model 2 Education System under which Mandarin was made the primary medium of instruction in all the primary and secondary schools across Golog, Kardze and Qinghai," a Tibetan resident of Tibet told RFA's Tibetan Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"Now beginning this year, the Chinese government has imposed Mandarin as the medium for college entrance exams."

Opponents of the Model 2 Education system argue that the policy will destroy the Tibetan language and culture, and it has no basis in law, reported Radio Free Asia.

"Due to the sudden shift in the Chinese government's education reforms, Tibetan students are not as well prepared and proficient enough in Mandarin to compete with [Mandarin native speaker]students who have always been learning in Mandarin," the resident said.

Removing the extra time for ethnic minority students is also problematic, another resident, who declined to be named, told RFA.

The trend could be dangerous for the entire Tibetan community, the second resident said.

China's educational reforms are a contradiction of its law on Regional National Autonomy, Pema Gyal, a researcher at the London-based Tibet Watch advocacy and monitoring group.

"The law states that minority schools should, if possible, use textbooks printed in their own languages, and lessons should be taught in those languages, and this contradicts with what the government is doing right now," Radio Free Asia quoted Gyal saying.