tibet.net
February 2, 2014
GUWAHATI: Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay successfully concluded his successful tour of Arunachal Pradesh, visiting Tibetan settlements in Miao and Tezu on 30 and 31 January. Sikyong addressed the general public, and interacted with students and teachers on how to improve the education standard of Tibetans during his visit to the Central School for Tibetans at both the settlements.
In his public address, Sikyong reiterated that education is the top priority of the 14th Kashag. He said the Central Tibetan Administration has reformed the scholarship programme to facilitate students to pursue further studies after completing their school education. He said the first-ever 95.4% marks scored by Tenzin Choekyi of TCV Homes Mussoorie last year reflects the positive trend in the academic result following the scholarship reforms, like the introduction of Rs 1 Lakh Sikyong scholarship, initiated by the 14th Kashag.
Sikyong said only through education Tibetans can face enormous challenge in dealing with the 1.3 billion Chinese people to resolve the issue of Tibet. He said the majority of Tibetans living inside Tibet pin their hopes on their brethren in exile and the later can fulfill their hopes and aspirations only through education. He said the younger generation of Tibetans is taking responsibility to lead the Tibetan movement and entreated them to continue to do so.
Sikyong paid visits to the Central Tibetan Schools at both the settlements. Addressing the students, Sikyong said today’s children have better opportunities and privileges in terms of education as compared to the past. He assured that the Central Tibetan Administration would provide all the facilities and urged the teachers and staff to pay more attention on imparting sound education to the children. Quoting former Human Resource Development Minister Kabil Sibal, he said: “Good teachers are costly. But bad teachers cost more to the community and nation.”
Sikyong also took time to meet separately with the teachers, most of whom are Indians. He profusely thanked the teachers and staff for their dedication, sacrifice and commitment in educating the Tibetans for the last more than fifty years in exile. He said the Tibetans would remain eternally grateful to the Indian teachers, as they have produced thousands of educated Tibetans, which in turn has helped to sustain and strengthen the Tibetan movement. He further expressed hope that the teachers will continue to put in extra effort in making the children good and educated Tibetans. The teachers asked the Sikyong about the handing over of CST schools to the Central Tibetan Administration. Sikyong said the handing over process is underway and it will be completed within three years or whenever CTA thinks it can takeover the schools. The teachers informed Sikyong about the lack of parents’ accountability and said parents should take the responsibility to ensure the children to do their homework.
During his public talk, Sikyong said he has visited more than 94-95 percent of the Tibetan settlements since Tibetans elected him to lead the CTA two and a half years ago. He said his visits to the settlements would help the Kashag to introduce policies on socio-economic, education and health of Tibetans. He said the Tibetan youths are shouldering the responsibility to continue the efforts made by the elder Tibetans to keep alive our identity and movement. He said Tibetans are proud to have invaluable culture and religion and called for need to redouble our efforts to preserve it.
Sikyong said the support from and unity among the Tibetans have resulted in the smooth democratic transition following His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s devolution of political authority to the elected leadership to fully democratise the Tibetan polity. He spoke about the strong political support from the international community, including governments, parliaments and growing Chinese people to resolve the issue of Tibet through dialogue between His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese government. He informed the general public that His Holiness the Dalai Lama had recently said he would live till the issue of Tibet is resolved through the Middle-Way Approach within his lifetime.
Sikyong visited and spoke to elderly Tibetans living in the old age homes in the two settlements. He inaugurated a renovated Tibetan Primary Health Care Centre, Handicraft Centre and a computer centre at Miao settlement.
On the way to Guwahati on Saturday (1 February), Sikyong met with about 35 Tibetan families doing small businesses in Dibrugarh. In his brief address, Sikyong advised the Tibetans to follow the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and underlined the importance to preserve the Tibetan language, culture and tradition. He told them to maintain harmonious relation among the community. He listened to problems faced by the Tibetans concerning education of children and issuance of Green Book and said efforts would be made to solve their grievances.
