The Scotsman, Edinburgh, Scotland - 10 Jan 1996 - By ANDREW MELLOR

India: A tiny slum school prepares eager Tibetan refugee children for the too few schools places on offer to a nation in exile

NAMGYAL is a born teacher. Obediently the class follows his lead and cites the alphabet for the benefit of the overseas visitors clustered at the back of the tiny school room.

True, his methods are not very progressive - mostly chalk, talk and the learning - but resources are limited. And he is only six. Judging by the way his teachers have no hesitation in, asking him to lead the demonstration, he is obviously their star pupil.

His school is not easy to find. Its official address - The Buddha Tibetan refugee Pre-Primary School, Tibetan colony, Below the Bus Stand, Simla, Himachal Pradesh - will mean little to any locals you ask for directions. But mention "the School in the Slum" and you will be directed down an impossibly steep alley between buildings made out of flattened oil drums. The path is slippery and you have make way for the stream of Kashmiri porters, who earn a few rupees for each load of wood or bricks they laboriously haul up the long incline. In massive packs secured by rope slings round their shoulders and heads.

Hallway down the hill you duck through a low doorway leading to a room containing a scene reminiscent of a Fifties Scottish school room.

Twenty or so youngsters are lined up in strict order of height. The oldest, and tallest, is six. The youngest is just three and a half, and looks it. All are dressed in uniforms which create an impression of neatness, but peer closer and the patches and darns of poverty become obvious.

A repertoire of songs - complete with actions - is loudly and enthusiastically performed for the visitors. Tibetan folk tunes are followed by some more familiar western songs.

The piece de resistance is an enchanting version of Old Macdonald Had a Farm which includes an exceedingly angry monkey.

When the singing is finished there are no ready smiles for the camera. It is not that the children are unhappy, but they are involved in a serious task which will decide their future.

They must recite the alphabet, learn to count to a hundred, show that they can write neatly, and perform simple sums.

While this might sound a reasonable set of skills, not too different from those which British six-year-old might be expected to master, it is humbling to see and hear the youngsters demonstrating their ability to perform these tasks in three languages - Tibetan, Hindi and English.

It is a sad but brutal fact that there are not enough places in the Tibetan schools in northern India for all the refugee children, so only those who can show an ability to master basic skills get places.

The school was established two years ago with the aim of helping some of the most socially and economically deprived children in the refugee community to reach the first rung on the educational ladder.

With the continuing Chinese assault on the Tibetan language, religion and culture within the homeland - an assault which has been described as cultural genocide - it is considered vital that all the exiled children should have the opportunity of a Tibetan education.

Recognising the part that "the School In the Slum" plays in this, the Tibetan government in exile pays the wages of Samdup, one of its two teachers. The wages of her younger colleague, Tsering, and all of the schools meagre resources, are supplied by voluntary donations, many of which come from western countries including Britain. Life is not easy for the children of the Tibetan diaspora. Some are orphans, others social orphans - the children of destitute parents. Those who do eventually find a place In a government or charitable school are well cared for, but conditions are basic and work demanding.

Like disadvantaged youngsters everywhere, these children have to excel in order to make a successful life for themselves. But a further load lies on their shoulders: they carry the hopes of- the Tibetan leadership for the future. In his memoirs, the Dalai Lama wrote that "the children in India may be very important people, a nucleus of the peaceful religious life which we wish to regain."

Namgyal is part of that nucleus. Before we left he shyly told us that one day he would like to be a teacher In a Tibetan school. Whether that school is in Tibet or in a refugee colony remains to be seen but "The School in the Slum" has given him the chance to work towards his ambition and to play his part in regaining the peaceful life which his gentle people deserve.

Andrew Mellor is Principal Teacher of Guidance at Dalry School In Galloway.