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Feature: Tibetan Teens Dream of Study in Beijing
People walking along the northern section of Beijing's fourth ring road often pause to look at the unusual white-walled, red-roofed buildings nestled among modern skyscrapers.
The Tibetan-style structures are the classroom buildings of the renowned Beijing Tibet High School, where more than 700 Tibetan youngsters are enrolled.
"Just like the high schools in Tibet, Tibetan language and other state-set courses are taught here," said Bianba Toinzhub, a Tibetan teacher from the Lhasa NO. 1 High School.
"What's different is that the teaching facilities here are much better. For instance, the majority of students had only a general understanding of computers from watching TV in Tibet; now they can do their studies and draw pictures on the computer," he said. Founded in 1987 as part of the state program for aiding Tibet, the school has become a longed-for destination of Tibetan teenagers.
Piao Rongting, headmaster of the school, said that they accept students who have scored high in the entrance exam held in all counties and cities in Tibet.
To give an edge to children of Tibetan herdsmen and farmers, the Tibet Autonomous Region government has stipulated that 70 percent of the student body must be children whose families are not on the pay list of various governmental departments and factories.
Sunburns from the plateau are still noticeable on some students ' faces; the pale complexions of others betray their city roots.
In most cases, the Tibetan newcomers, most of them just 12 or 13, need assistance with daily living routines. The school employs over 20 staff to watch over them.
Of each year's 200 new faces, 100 are junior high school students. The teachers and other school employees set aside a few days at the beginning of each school year to instruct the youngsters on personal hygiene.
Fourteen-year-old Dawa Lhase said the teachers are very considerate, and are able to communicate well with the young people.
"In the past, when I was criticized by the teacher for fighting with my classmates, I didn't pay any attention, though I pretended to. Here, the teacher told me that a powerful man in conflict with others should resort to peaceful reasoning instead of fists. I agree, and now I don't like scuffle with classmates," he said.
The majority of students are followers of Tibetan Buddhism, and the school authority never interferes in students' religious beliefs.
The school presents various gifts and Tibetan food to the students for Tibetan festivals including the Tibetan New Year Festival, and every year more than 30 living Buddhas visit the school.
Like students everywhere in the world, students here have lofty aspirations. Ngatsi, from Qamdo, wants to be a singer; Cering Zhaxi, from Nyingchi, has sights set on a career as a dancer. Both are now members of a performance group at the school.
Tibetan language is the most important course for the students because the regional government mandates that Tibetan count for 120 marks in the senior high school entrance exam, while Chinese and English get 100 marks each.
Junior high school students in the school here have to return to Tibet to take the exam for entrance of schools as senior high school students, and about 30 percent can be re-enrolled by the school here for senior stage learning.
Chinese teacher Zhou Lianzeng said that the Tibetan students are honest and diligent and teachers are dedicated to teaching them well. Though the government pays for their tuition and living expenses, some of them are short of pocket money, every year teachers here donate money to the students.
Quite a few students travel to see their former teachers even years after they have graduated, Zhou added.
According to the headmaster, the funds the state invests on a Tibetan student here are equivalent to those for a university student: more than 10,000 yuan a year. There are 24 such schools across the country, with an annual recruitment of 1,300 Tibetan teenagers.
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