Education in Tibetan Areas

I. The current education system cannot cover Tibetan agricultural and pasturing areas
　　 The Tibetan areas stretches into vast lands, and people there are living in poverty. Therefore, the children in agricultural and pasturing areas have low rate of schooling, high rate of illiteracy and high number of students beyond the normal age of schooling. The education there can not be listed into modern education system.

II. There is a disconnection between traditional and modern education.
　　 In Tibetan areas, children of farmers and herdsmen rarely have the opportunity to learn the traditional Tibetan culture; and Tibetan monks can hardly accept modern applied science and other languages.

III. There is discontinuity of Tibetan cultural education.
　　 Learning Tibetan culture sometimes doesn’t help students in their employment, and may even influence their further education and employment because they don’t have enough time to learn Chinese culture. Therefore, the youth in the Tibetan areas are not quite willing to learn Tibetan culture. For example, 80% of the people in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County of Gansu Province cannot speak Tibetan.