Schools run by local governments were divided into
schools for the training of lay and monk officials. Instead
of providing students with systematic study, these schools
were actually training centers for nurturing local
government officials. Most of the students were from noble
families. The schools, small in size and low in education
level, belonged to the ruling groups. Statistics show that
Tibet had six such schools before 1951.
School
for training lay officials. The schoold, located east of the
Jokhang Monastery, was set up in the time of the 7th Dalai
Lama. It was put under the Auditing Department, one of the
two major departments of the Tibetan government. The school
costs were met from the grain tariffs collected from the
area put under the school by the Tibetan government, and
small subsidies from the local government. The requirement
for entrance to school were following:first, students must
be from hereditary noble families; second, their families
owned a hereditary manor; and third, they knew some writing.
The courses were mainly etiquette, grammar and the writing
of the Tibetan language, official document composition, and
tax levying and calculation. The school took on the double
duty of auditing department and school. The accounting
officials managed the school, and the accounments served as
teachers. The school term was not strict. Those from
families having power or being well-off could be appointed
as officials ahead of schedule, while there were a few
"old students" who got no promotion for 10 or 20
years. Teachers used very primitive ways to check students'
scores. For instance, a teacher asked Students to count
stones and wooden blocks in bags. These stones and wooden
blocks of varied size represent different figures. Those who
could count the contents quickly and accurately passed the
examination.
Schools for training monk
officials. These schools trained monk officials and were put
under the Secretariat, one of the two major departments
under the Tibetan government. Besides the one located in
Lhasa, there was another In the Tashilhungpo Monastery in
Xigaze. Funds needed to keep the schools going also came
from school areas in terms of taxes and government
subsidies. Teachers were primarily retired monk officials.
The students were mainly monks from different monasteries,
and most were children of tralpa slave families. But there
were a few children of commoners. Religious ceremonies,
scriptures and Buddhist objects were the main subjects, to
which were added Tibetan grammar, terminology, official
document composition and mathematics. Monk composition and
mathematics. Monk officials were selected exclusively from
graduates of such a school.
Technical secondary
schools run by the government. Such schools targeted science
and technology with an aim of nurturing medical doctors.
Though few in number, they enjoyed a long history. As early
as the Tubo Kingdom, Yutok Yonden Gonpo, a Tibetan medicine
practitioner, established a private Tibetan medicinal
school. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Tibetan
government began to set up public medical training schools
in the Zhaibung Monastery, the Potala Palace and Xigaze, but
they were soon closed. When the 5th Dalai Lama was in
office, the Wisdom Medical School, which is the predecessor
of the present-day Tibetan Medicine College, was founded at
the ernment gave it land and economic aid, so it has
survived. During the reign of the 13th Dalai Lama, a school
specializing in medicine and calendar, called Manzekam Lhoza
in the Tibetan language, was set up. The medical and
calendar school also served as the medical and calendar
organ of the Tibetan government. The school was geared to
train medical doctors and research climate and calendar in
service of agriculture and animal husbandry. Unlike schools
set up to train lay and monk officials, its students came
from ordinary families. As no students it trained were to be
promoted as government officials, the school enjoyed no
special suport from the government. However, the school had
the public support mainly because it offered medical
treatment to the populace. It was actually a major center to
train people specialized in Tibetan medicine and Tibetan
calendar. Despite its close relationship with monastic
education, it was an independent scientific school-a great
breakthrough from the traditional education in
Tibet.
Tibetan language primary schools. To
stabilize the unsteady situation after the 1911 Revolution
which toppled the Qing Dynasty, the 13th Dalia Lama ordered
all counties to set up a Tibetan language primary school,
and stipulated that "all children aged 7 to 15 attend
government-run schools." The government offered
teachers a salary. As a result, Tibetan language primary
schools were set up. But, because of local government
corruption and the opposition of conservative forces in
society, they were soon closed. Nevertheless, these schools
constituted the first attempt at achieving modern education
in Tibet still under the feudal serfdom.
Lhasa
public primary school. In 1938, the nationalist government
of the Republic of China (1912-1949) set up the Lhasa
Primary School,which enrolled the children of businessmen
and Hui and Han officials of the Tibet Office. Tibetan
pupils were rare. Office officials served as teachers, and
the number of pupils reached 300 at most. The curriculum
included Tibetan, Hui and Chinese writings, as well as
arithmetic, history, geology, general knowledge and music.
Over 200 children managed to finish their primary education
before the school was closed in 1949. The school exerted no
big social influences mainly because it was small in size
and enrolled only a few Tibetan
students.
English schools. In 1904, the British
imperialists established English schools in Lhasa and
Gyangze for children from noble families, in an attempt to
train their puppets to rule Tibet. Firmly opposed by the
monasteries, the schools were closed three years later.
About 100 children once studied there.
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