China to open 251 schools in Tibet to teach Mandarin, Tibetan

BEIJING: China today announced plans to set up 251 new kindergartens offering education both in Mandarin and the Tibetan languages in Tibet from next year amid reports of opposition to learn Chinese language.

The regional government of Tibet autonomous province has made the announcement during an economic conference in Tibetan capital Lhasa, official news agency Xinhua reported.

According to the plan, Tibet will enroll 15,000 rural children into bilingual kindergartens in 2012, said Chen Quanguo, secretary of the Tibetan Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

By 2015, the two-year bilingual preschool education shall cover most of the region's rural areas, Chen said.

Tibet has already implemented bilingual preschool education in its cities and counties and is working to expand such kindergartens into the region's vast countryside starting this year.

In an earlier statement, education authorities said preschool education shall be made free for all children in rural Tibet by 2015.

Tuition fees, as well as food and lodging expenses on campus, have been free for all primary and secondary school students from Tibetan herders' families since 1985 Last year according to official media reports Tibetan students Qinghai Province held demonstrations opposing a proposal to make Chinese language the official language in schools.

The protesters feared that the change would result in Tibetan no longer being the main language, while experts said the students may not understand the educational policy on language.