Ben Jiao

Fertility and Family Planning in Rural Tibet

The conflict over the political status of Tibet has damaged Chinas relations with the West. Serious accusations have been made about human rights abuses and religious persecution. One of the most consistent of the charges has been that the Chinese government practices coercive family planning in Tibet by imposing strict birth limits and forcing women to undergo abortions and sterilizations. A highly critical report was jointly submitted to the United Nations in 1998 by the International Committee of Lawyers for Tibet the Womens Commission for Refugee Women and Children an the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Based mainly on refugee accounts it paints a horrific picture of repressive birth control in Tibet including forced abortions sterilizations and huge fines and penalties. An example of the many charges is: The Mission interviewed a male health worker who had fled Chushul in 1997. He described policies that included the summoning of women between the ages of 15 and 49 for sterilization. He reports that in October 1994 every woman who had already had two children was summoned for sterilization (about 300) but due to lack of personnel only 84 could be sterilized at that time. A woman who disobeyed the summons was subject to a fine. For office workers the fine was deducted from the paychecks. Farm women who could not pay lost their land. These charges are vigorously denied by the Chinese government and Chinese researchers. Are such reports then accurate depictions of life in contemporary Tibet? Is the Chinese government really forcing Tibetans to undergo unwanted abortions and sterilizations to achieve state-set birth limits and if not what is the reproductive life to Tibetan villagers really like? We designed and conducted a study to fill this gap in knowledge by examining reproduction child mortality and contraception on site among a large sample of women living in diverse areas of Tibet. (excerpt)

Household Perspectives on School Attendance in Rural Tibet.

This study explores household perspectives on school access at the village level in rural Tibet. Data from two rural areas are compared. This paper argues that despite abolition of all school fees, the use of Tibetan as a medium of instruction, the provision of boarding schools, and other incentives, dropout rates in rural areas remain high. This is largely due to the opportunity costs associated with removing a child from the household labor force. Beyond acquiring basic literacy, rural households seem less willing to make the sacrifices involved without receiving direct economic return through access to non‐farm labor jobs after graduation. Nevertheless, there are other factors at work. Moreover, villages in different parts of Tibet are far from homogeneous with respect to the factors that affect school attendance.

Education Change and Development in Nomadic Communities of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR)

Abstract This research examines the challenges and accomplishments of popularizing basic education in nomadic regions of the Tibetan Autonomous Region. The article provides a background and case study of Nyerong county in northern Tibet. The authors note the rapid progress but also point out that there needs to be more of a focus on improving the learning environment of school life by fostering creativity and the application of relevant knowledge.

Education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region: Policies and practices in rural and nomadic communities

Introduction - Janette Ryan Part I: Curriculum policy and practice 1. Reflection in action: Ongoing K-12 curriculum reform in China - Changyun Kang and Jian Liu 2. Constructing a cross-cultural teacher Professional Learning Community in the context of Chinas basic education curriculum - Changyun Kang, Gaalen Erickson, Janette Ryan and Ian Mitchell 3. Collaborative narration: Our story in a cross-cultural professional learning community - Keqin Liu, Yuping Li and Changyun Kang Part II: Educational quality and access 4. Methods to evaluate educational quality and improvement in China - Sally Thomas and Wen-Jung Peng 5. Education in the Tibetan Autonomous Region: Policies and Practices in Rural and Nomadic Communities - Gerard Postiglione, Ben Jiao and Melvyn C. Goldstein Part III: Educational values and beliefs 6. The changing landscapes of a journey: Educational metaphors in China - Martin Cortazzi and Lixian Jin 8. English language teachers as moral guides in Vietnam and China: Maintaining and re-traditionalising morality - Phan Le Ha, Paul McPherron and Phan Van Que Part IV: Reform and internationalisation in the disciplines 8. Ten years of curriculum reform in China: A soft knowledge perspective - Wee Tiong Seah 9. Multi-dimensional citizenship education reform: Is this the future trajectory for schools in China and Australia? - Libby Tudball Part V: Mutual learning and adaptation 10. Mutual learning and adaptation between China and the West through learning each others language - Jiewen Zhong 11. Bridging the East and West dichotomy: Harmonising Eastern learning with Western knowledge - Shijing Xu

Tibetan Student Perspectives on Neidi Schools

A preferential education policy specifically targeted at the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) is widely considered to be a great success after twenty years of implementation. This policy established what has come to be known as the neidi Xizang ban (inland Tibetan schools and classes; Postiglione et al. 2004). This chapter focuses on the part of that policy that sends the top graduates of Tibet’s primary schools to boarding schools in China’s urban areas for study of up to seven years.1 Our aim is to review the main aspects of the policy and present preliminary data about student perspectives on their experience at neidi schools. In our conclusions, we point out the largely positive benefits of neidi schools as well as the concerns of both graduates and the state. The schools and their curricula, in preparing young Tibetans for careers as cadres in the TAR, inculcate in students a Chinese national identity, without sacrificing the students’ sense of themselves as Tibetans.