Tibetan Language Learning, A Must For Tibetan StudentsEleven-year-old Tibetan girl Debai loves to read "King Gesser" written in Tibetan in her spare time. She says, "Gesser is a legendary hero in Tibetan history." It is really not an easy thing for a primary school pupil to read and understand this more than 10 million-word Tibetan folk epic.Debai says that she studies Tibetan language at school every day and reads some Tibetan language books when she comes back home. She is confident that she can basically grasp the Tibetan language in several years as the language learning is the compulsory course in the region. Tibetan language is widely used in Tibet Autonomous Region, southwest China. Like Debai, many Tibetan youngsters understand quite well how important it is to grasp their own language. Qoizim, deputy director of Tibet Autonomous Region's Education Bureau said that local educational departments have always pushed forward the development of Tibetan language teaching and learning at schools. Tibetans are required to learn the letters of the language at kindergartens, its spelling at primary schools, and logic and psychology at middle schools. Students who major Tibetan language in colleges and universities must grasp related contents of the Tibetan language, ancient Tibetan language and Sanscrit. Students majoring in other subjects are also required to learn the Tibetan language, Qoizim said. Those who study at the Tibet classes in the hinterland provinces of the country are asked to take part in examinations on Tibetan language if they want to continue studies in senior middle schools, colleges or universities. Lhapa Cering, Debai's elder brother, who has just finished his study at a Tibet class in a junior middle school in east China's Jiangsu Province, said he is confident to pass the exam and continue his study at senior middle school. Qoizim said that the Tibetan language and culture have been developing by leaps and bounds since the founding of new China in 1949. There are more than 50 kinds of Tibetan teaching material and textbooks available at local primary and middle schools, with 1.78 million books printed annually. In teaching the Tibetan language, Qoizim stressed the necessity of adding more natural science vocabulary to the language while standardizing its use so as to meet the requirements of the development in modern society. At present, Tibet has more than 350,000 primary and middle school students. Eighty-three percent of school age children are at schools. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |