Education

Problem: By our estimates, 20% of school age children in rural Tibet do not attend school. Many factors exacerbate this problem. Farmers and nomads, who make up the majority of Tibetans, generally cannot afford to pay school fees. In many regions, schools are insufficiently staffed while available teachers often have scarcely more education than their students. Additionally, farmers often depend on their children to work as farm hands because agriculture in Tibet is still only partially mechanized. Tibetans simply have little incentive to invest in education when their children can look forward to little more than access to primary school and limited job prospects thereafter. As a result, Tibetans are caught in a vicious cycle that leaves them with few opportunities for educational and economic advancement.

Progress: As of now, TVP assisted in building one school in 2003 that now has 95 students. Since then, TVP has shifted its focus towards supporting schools that are already built but are having difficulty staying in operation due to a lack of funding and materials.

Ongoing Effort: We are currently looking at a new school in Bathang. This is one of the poorest areas in Tibet. The new school will cater for up to 500 students over the next 4 years. Though we have drawings and basic plans, we are waiting on permits in order to proceed.TVP's rural educational program focuses on Tibetan language preservation and literacy. When you make a donation, it enables us to support about ten schools with 1200 students through stipends, tuition, food, warm blankets and clothing, textbooks, and school supplies. In addition, we build greenhouse that is designed to combat the malnutrition problem among Tibetan children, and to provide constant food. This is purely a summary and more detail is available upon request.