Reflections on Basic Education in Tibet

Zhiyong, Z. (2008). Reflections on basic education under the “three guarantees” policy in Tibet’s pastoral districts. Chinese Education and Society, 41(1), 44-50.

·      “The blind quest for greater numbers of schools and students exceeded the actual needs and sustaining capacity of Tibet’s economic development, causing an imbalance in the internal proportions of education and a grave decline in the quality of education” (Doujie, 1991, p.98).

·      They had a “bloated education system” in Tibet but the policy “brought some improvement to the quality of education” (p.45).

·      The author maintains “that the low quality of education in pastoral districts has to do with the teachers’ identification with their roles.  The behavior and demeanor of the teachers as they handle the relations among the state, schools, and students and their families are a far cry from the status of teachers as knowledgeable and ethical persons in positions of authority” (p. 48).

·      Zhiyong finally asserts that there are definitely other possible causes for the issues in education in Tibet: “religious concepts, the errant mode of production and way of life in pastoral districts, the lack of economic development, the schools’ ecological environment, and so forth” (p. 49).

o   The “three guarantees” policy of having food, clothing, and housing was a good idea in theory, but didn’t get practiced very well.  Through reading this article it appears as though people were going to school just so they could get food (as the policy encouraged this), and not to become a more educated society.  However, it was a good incentive to get educated.  The education in Tibet is “bloated” and of low-quality according to the author as a result of many factors listed above.