Published by: World Tibet Network News, Thursday, October 3, 1996

By GIRLIE LINAO

BEIJING, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Supporters of the dalai lama slammed China's plan to educate children in Tibet, accusing Beijing Thursday of trying to eradicate Tibetan culture and wipe out the exiled spiritual leader's influence on the young.

"Whatever they do, Chinese people and policy in Tibet undermine our culture and values," said Desang Tsering, general-secretary of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, site of the dalai lama's government-in-exile in northern India. "This goal is always behind their policies."

China announced at least four out of five school age children in Tibet will be receiving three, six or nine years of compulsory education by the end of the century.

The number of years will be adjusted based on the conditions and education levels of students in pastoral areas, farming sites, towns and cities.

Under a set of regulations passed by the regional People's Congress, the legislative body in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, "each county of Tibet must have at least one middle school, and each Tibetan township must have a complete primary school."

Tsering said the move, announced by the official Xinhua news agency, would only benefit the thousands of Chinese who have poured into the Himalayan region.

"Educators sent by the central government concentrate on weakening unique traditional culture and customs," he said.

Noting schools in Tibet primarily accept children of Chinese workers and soldiers who have moved into the area, Tsering said any educational plan should include reforms on admissions and curricula.

A recent survey shows Tibet now has 87 middle schools with 33,000 students and 3,950 primary schools with more than 250,000 pupils.

To enter any institution of learning, Tibetan youngsters have to learn Chinese.

"This is just one problem for Tibetans," Tsering said in a telephone interview. "We must know our own language and culture."

Tibetans frequently complain China is infusing the region with Han Chinese, the country's ethnic majority accounting for 92 percent of the population.

Beijing claims only 3.3 percent of the 2.3 million residents of Tibet are Chinese.

Tsering expressed confidence the dalai lama's influence on Tibetan youths is difficult to completely erase, despite the generation growing up without knowing the exiled leader.

"I doubt the Chinese will be able to root out the region's original belief," he said. "Their presence in Tibet is a problem. But parents, older relatives and friends can explain the dalai lama to the children."

The dalai lama fled to northern India in 1959 after an unsuccessful uprising against Chinese rule and is viewed by Beijing as a symbol of Tibet's independence movement.

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner has enraged China with recent visits to the United States, Britain, Germany, New Zealand and Australia, during which he called on Beijing to engage in a dialogue with him and respect Tibetan human rights.

In his latest trip the head of Tibetan Buddhism met with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, prompting infuriated China to threaten trade and diplomatic retaliation. The meeting followed talks between the dalai lama and New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger despite Chinese objections.

Beijing regularly protests when any country hosts the dalai lama. It routinely suppresses calls for greater freedoms and independence in Tibet, with police beatings or demonstrators, including monks and nuns.

Australian and New Zealand officials stressed the meetings were unofficial and merely in recognition of the Tibetan revered by many as a god-king.

Earlier this week, two Chinese dissidents, Liu Xiaobo and Wang Xizhe, urged Beijing in a petition to grant Tibetans the right of self- determination and to talk to the dalai lama.

"The Chinese government has made mistakes in Tibet, especially since the Cultural Revolution," the two said, referring to the 1966-76 radical political movement when Chinese youths destroyed thousands of Tibetan temples.

Liu and Wang accused Beijing of reneging on pledges made before they came to power in 1949 that China's ethnic minorities should have the right to self-determination.