BEIJING, Aug 31 (AFP) - Authorites in Tibet are to "emancipate and educate" young Tibetan monks who have engaged in pro-independence activities after being influenced by the Dalai Lama, according to reports received in Beijing Saturday.

"The monks in our region must carry out education on patriotism and emancipate those young monks who are deceived by the Dalai clique reactionary forces," said a front page editorial in the August 23 issue of the Tibet Daily.

Young monks, considered to be most at risk from "bad elements who have insidiously infiltrated temples" will be required to study China's laws and constitution at regular sessions to wean them off any thought of an independent Tibet,

"In our country all people and groups including the religious community are not allowed to violate the law to damage people's interests to disrupt the unity of our motherland," said the unsigned editorial.

"But in the last 10 years, a small number of bad elements have incited the young monks to engage in riots and splitting the motherland," it added.

The paper urged "patriotic" monks to criticise and bring into line any young monks who show an interest in pro-independence activities. Tibetan officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Tibetan monasteries have long been hotbeds of political activity since China annexed Tibet in 1950. Pictures of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism are banned.

The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising, and now heads a government in exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, home to more than 100,000 Tibetan refugees.

The editorial came a day after the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) said a 200-pupil school in Kumbum, one of Tibet's most important monasteries, was closed in March, six months after pro-independence posters and leaflets began to circulate.

Four student monks from a group of around 25 detained for six weeks from March 15 have still not been released, TIN said, while the others were released on May 5, one day before the closure order was issued.

One student, Janyang Yeshe, was released in a coma on April 2, apparently after being tortured during questioning about the posters, TIN said.

"He had been tortured so severely that he remained unconscious for some days after release," a TIN source was quoted as saying.

The four monks were accused of producing posters and leaflets containing prayers for the long life of the child recognised last lear by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama.

Beijing enthroned its own Panchen and the Dalai Lama's choice is reportedly living under house arrest in Beijing, an allegation denied by Chinese authorites, who have nevertheless not allowed access to the six-year-old boy.