Education Meeting Held

Participants at Education Meeting in Dharamsala

Kalon Thupten Lungrig visited Mussoorie as a chief guest on the final day of the Second Inter Tibetan Schools Dialectics competition held at the Tibetan Homes Foundation, Mussoorie. The first contest was held in October 2005 commemorating the 70th birthday celebration of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The two-day competition (Nov. 4-5) was held for students from Class VII and VIII. Ven. Gyatso, Abbot of Sakya College, Rajpur in Dehradun district was the chief guest for the opening ceremony. TCV Dharamshala Cantt. and TCV Suja were declared winners in the Class VII & Class VIII Category respectively. Hon'ble Kalon in his valedictory speech appreciated the initiative of Tibetan Homes Foundation in organizing such an event. He said that the dialectics studies is not just for monasteries and nunneries and stressed the need for school children to study the traditional form of learning to train the mind with verbal debate and logic.

Dialectics Contest at THF Mussoorie

Two-year teacher training course: A bachelor's level teacher training course was inaugurated on October 1 by Education Secretary Karma Gelek Yuthok at the College for Higher Tibetan Studies (CHTS) at Sarah, near Dharamsala. The selected twenty-nine candidates are undergoing teacher-training course in accordance with the Basic Education Policy (BEP) with funding from the Danish Government. The trainees will graduate in April 2010. A similar training was conducted in 2006-08 for 24 pre-primary teachers and they are currently teaching in the Tibetan schools.

Three-month Training for Spiritual & Cultural Teachers: In view of the pressing need of spiritual & cultural teachers in Tibetan schools, Department of Education (DOE) invited candidates from various Tibetan monastic institutes & nunneries to undergo a 3-month duration special training course for spiritual & cultural teachers. Kalon Thupten Lungrig inaugurated the course on October 4. On completion of their training at the end of December, they will join various Tibetan schools hopefully from the next academic session. It was jointly funded by Tibet Charity & SOIR-IM.

Narendra Pandya teaching Mathemagics in classroom

Primary Teacher Trainees Attend Training at Ahmedabad: The trainees undergoing primary teacher training at CHTS, Sarah were provided one month intensive training in Ahmedabad, Gujarat State (Nov. 1-30) in collaboration with Calorx Foundation.  They learnt various creative activities and skills related to teaching and conducted classroom observations and practical teaching at the local branch of Delhi Public School, Calorx International School and Prerna, a school for dyslexic students. The trainees also visited various important places including Science City, Gandhi Ashram, Akshardham and the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad.  

Music & Dance Teacher's Workshop: Thirty-five Music & Dance teachers from schools under Tibetan Children's Villages (TCV), Tibetan Homes Foundation (THF), Sambhota Tibetan Schools Society (STSS), Snow Lion Foundation (SLF), Tibetan Nehru Memorial Foundation School, Clementown and Tibetan Day School, Delhi attended a two-week workshop (Nov.24 to Dec.6) organised by the Department of Education, CTA at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, Dharamsala. Ngodup Dorjee, Additional Secretary, DOE inaugurated the workshop which focused mainly on improved techniques of teaching different forms of traditional Tibetan performing arts.  In addition, sessions on salient features of the Basic Education Policy, non-violence, child psychology, holistic education and yogawere conducted. During the workshop participants also composed some new Tibetan songs. Finance Kalon Tsering Dhundup was the chief guest at the valedictory function and gave away certificates to the participants.

Primary Teachers Attend Workshop on Basic Education Policy: Forty teachers from schools administered by the Tibetan Children's Villages and Tibetan Homes Foundation attended a workshop on the Basic Education Policy (BEP) held from December 23 to January 3, 2009 at CHTS Sarah. This is the 5th BEP workshop for primary teachers of Tibetan schools organised by the Department of Education, CTA. Education Secretary Ven. Karma Gelek Yuthok inaugurated the workshop. In addition to introducing the salient features of the basic education policy included sessions on principles of education, methods of teaching, teaching of dialectics, holistic education, child health, traditional education system, inclusive education, principles of non-violence and traditional Tibetan games. The participants also took part in yoga sessions daily in the mornings and documentary films related to various aspects of education were shown in the evenings. The participants were given certificates by the chief guest Kalon Thupten Lungrig in the valediction function.

Education Officer Tsering Phuntsok alongwith Mr. S.P. Rana, Education Officer CTSA visited CST Gothangaon in Maharashtra for annual inspection on October 3-4. Mr. Phuntsok also inspected Tibetan schools at Bhuntar and Manali in Himachal Pradesh from Oct. 13-16. He also conducted annual inspection at CST Chandragiri and its branch schools at Mahendragarh & Lobersing in Orissa state alongwith Mr. A.S. Rawat, Education Officer, CTSA.

Education Officer Tsering Samdup visited schools at Paonta Sahib (Oct. 14-15), CST Mussoorie (Oct. 16-17) alongwith Mr. C. Dharuman, Education Officer CTSA, CST Puruwala (Oct. 18-20), STS Dekyiling (Oct. 21-23).

During the above inspections, teaching and learning in the schools were observed. The inspectors interacted with the students and teachers and offered suggestions for overall improvement of the schools.

Computer Class at CST Chandragiri

Counselor, Jamyang Wangyal, visited CST CVP Bylakuppe, CST Bylakuppe, SOS TCV Bylakuppe and CST Gurupura from October 13- 25 and CST Kollegal from November 19-21 to provide guidance and counseling services to the students of these schools. While, East Zone Counselor, Chokey Lhamo, visited STS Pokhriabong, TSTS Gangtok, CST Kalimpong, CST Sonada & CST Darjeeling from October 29- November 22 to provide guidance and counseling services to the students of these schools. During the visit, they had counseled on areas ranging from Goal Setting to DOE Scholarships etc. South Zone Counselor, had also provided parental counseling in the three Tibetan settlements namely Dekyi Larsoe, Lugsam & Hunsur. About 210 parents attended the sessions conducted by the Counselor.

Parental Counselling at Bylakuppe

South Zone Counselor organized the Career Exhibition on October 20 at the Multipurpose Hall of CST Bylakuppe. It was joint effort of students of CST Bylakuppe, CST CVP Bylakuppe and SOS TCV Bylakuppe. Earlier, exhibition was also held at CST Mundgod on Oct. 1. Different materials on careers prepared by the students were displayed. Along with this, books on careers from the Cell were displayed for providing information about various careers to the students. In total, 819 students and many teachers visited the exhibition and truly appreciated it.
East Zone Counselor, Chokey Lhamo, organized Career Exhibition on December 19 at CST Darjeeling, which was inaugurated by the school Rector Sangpo Rinzin. The students prepared charts, job folders & career albums. The materials prepared by the students along with books on careers from the Cell were displayed. The students of classes VIII to XII and teachers visited the exhibition. Close cooperation and assistance from the school principal, teacher counselor, teachers and students of the school have contributed to making the exhibition a great success.

Career Exhibition at Darjeeling

Tibetan Children’s Village School, Chauntra is located in Himachal Pradesh in Mandi District. It is situated in an area of nearly15 acres of land. His Holiness the Dalai Lama inaugurated the school on 24th November 2004. Like any other TCV schools, TCV Chauntra is a residential co-educational school with clear set missions and goals to be accomplished.
At present there are nearly 1000 students in the school. Many of them are new arrivals from Tibet. They are receiving both modern and traditional education. They are being looked after by 90 staff members out of which 60 are teachers, 16 Home mothers and remaining non-teaching staff. All the staff members assume parental responsibilities toward these children who are mostly orphan, semi-orphan and destitute. There are students from the Himalayan region of India such as Ladakh, Lahaul & Spiti and Arunachal Pradesh.

A Campus View of TCV Chauntra

All the children are divided into 14 homes and 2 hostels. Each home accommodates on an average 50 children who are being taken care of by one home mother. Under her care and guidance, children learn practical lessons on various household chores in a home. The hostels are meant for the senior boys and girls. Each hostel has 110 students with a hostel warden and a matron to look after them.
The school is a secondary school with classes from Montessori to X grade. It got affiliation from the Central Board of Secondary Education, Delhi in 2007. The first batch of class X will sit in the All India Secondary School Examination in March 2009. Like in any other schools, the children learn Tibetan, English, Mathematics, Science and Social Science. A great emphasis is being given on child-centered methodology. Besides, they also learn painting, dance& music, computer, art of debating, dialectics, and games & sports.
Throughout the year, various co-curricular activities are organized to ensure all round development of children. Some of the major activities include debates, declamation contest, elocution, quiz, spelling ‘B’ contest, Dialectical debate, essay writing contest, cultural dance & song competition, games & sports, life skill activities etc.
One of the fundamental activities in the school is a month long annual Tibet-Our-Country project. This project is created to develop an in-depth understanding and appreciation of Tibetan culture, language, customs and history. Under this programme, children are required to do research work under the guidance of their teachers on the topics related to Tibetan history, culture, tradition, religion and geography. Like wise, Tibet Week or Gyalshen Zakhor is observed to instill in the minds of the children a sense of nationalism and patriotic feeling. Here most of the activities are chosen particularly to highlight Tibet’s political situation. This is done through the presentation of drama, skits, poetical recitation, songs, quiz and through Resource Talks by scholars and ex-political prisoners.
Every endeavour is being made to provide the children as best educational facilities as possible. The school has well maintained Computer Lab, Library, Science Labs, Resource Room, Music Room, Audio-Visual Room, auditorium, Play Ground & Basket-Ball Courts, Community Center, wet-canteen and tuck-shop.
TCV Chauntra has a separate Centre for special needs children. Currently, there are 29 such children in the centre. The youngest one is 8 and the eldest is 20. Three trained special educators and a Home mother look after them. Though there are no serious physically handicapped children in the centre, they are mostly slow learners who find difficulty to manage themselves in the school with normal children. Besides teaching Tibetan and English languages, the children at the Centre learn mathematics, art of cooking, carpentry, knitting, stitching and computer skills. Whenever they show some signs of improvement in their studies, they are integrated with the main school. It has always been the endeavour to give them the best care and facilities so that they don’t feel that they are neglected and uncared for. Mr. Namdol Tashi is the present Principal of the school.

*Three volumes of Phayul collection series financed by ARTIC, Japan viz. Tsamdrung Chokdrig, Agu Tenpai Drungtam and Tensung Danglang Mak are now in the press. Also, the 18th issue of Gangjong and Monling episode of Gesar stories for children will soon be ready for printing.

*Tenzin Norbu Nangsal, a Tibetan resident in USA has published a colourful dictionary on animals and plants entitled "Concise Tibetan-English Visual Dictionary" and has donated 1500 copies to Department of Education for free distribution to Tibetan schools. All the above-mentioned books will soon be available in all the schools.

*Also the first volume of Standardized Terms - English-Tibetan plus Tibetan definition produced by the Tibetan Terminology Project (TTP), is being printed and will be ready for distribution shortly.

1) Computers for Transit School: Tibet Charity has donated five new computers for Tibetan Transit School to improve accessibility to all students. Computers were successfully installed in the school. DoE would like to thank Tibet Charity, India for their continuous support.

2) Concrete flooring: SOIR-IM, Sweden generously provided financial assistance for concrete flooring in front of senior classroom block at CST Paonta Sahib where it has created replicas of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. DoE expresses its gratitude to SOIR-IM, Sweden for their generous support. 

3) DOE Project Officers attend workshop cum networking meeting:  Two project officers from each three Departments of CTA, Deptt. of Education, Deptt. of Health and Deptt. of Home participated in IM network cum workshop held at IM, Rajpur for three days. This is the first such gathering of IM’s current project holders which focused on project management, accounting, updating present changes in project reporting and formats etc. This network also contributes to know other partner organizations. We thank SOIR-IM for their generous support and long association with Central Tibetan Administration.

Model School Library Project

4) New Model School Library Project: To inculcate love of literature and self-reading habit among the pupils, the need of good library books are necessary for any school. With the support from Mrs. Lobsang Choedon, Ex. CTA staff, who is now settled in England, we have purchased variety of books for the Model School, Dharamsala. We deeply thank Mrs. Lobsang Choedon la for her generous help.

5) ARTIC Project Completed:  CST Chauntra has purchased new musical instruments and done repairing work of old musical instruments. The school has been able to procure enough musical instruments for the children to organize cultural shows in the school with funding support from ARTIC, Japan. We thank ARTIC, Japan for their continuous support.

6) Joint review meeting: A joint review meeting of the BEP project was held from October 22-23 with the participation of Counsellor Ms Dorte Bech Vizard from the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi, Mr. Leo H Knudsen, CTA Planning Commission staff and DOE project dealing section heads. The DOE section heads provided description of tasks/activities undertaken so far in the BEP project and issues that emerged during project implementation were discussed. A possible extension of the Danish support to education for Tibetans in Exile beyond March 2010 was also discussed. We thank Government of Denmark for supporting this project and hope to receive continuous support in future.

Announcements: The Department of Education has made announcement for Wyoming Scholarship (US) & Berea Scholarship (US) for 2009, Research Scholarship (India) & Emory Scholarship (US) for the year 2008, Fulbright Scholarship (US) for 2010 and MBBS & Engg. Entrance Test 2009. (Refer our official website www.tcewf.org for more detailed information)

Richardson Scholarship 2008 (UK): This Foundation offers one scholarship for undergraduate program at University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. The selection test was conducted at New Delhi from December 2-3, 2008. The test comprises of Tibetan & English written test and followed by interview. As a result, Mr. Dhukar Kyab (TCV Gopalpur), Ms. Tenzin Dolma (TCV Gopalpur) and Mr. Karma Jinpa Tsering (TCV Gopalpur) were shortlisted and their applications along with the academic credentials have been sent to the Richardson Foundation for its final selection.