Chik (one), nyi (), sum (three), zhi (4), nga (five), druk (six)…
Ka, kha, ga, nga, ca, cha, ja, nya….
Numbers to alphabets, names of veggies, culmination and animals, blocks, board video games, drawings, shapes, colorings and even tune, songs and dance — for the scholars at Sambhota Tibetan School in Bir of Himachal Pradesh’s Kangra district, the sector of education and gaining knowledge of begins of their personal Tibetan language, proper from day one.
Playing the traditional musical device ‘danyan’ in sync, the grade 2 college students sing and repeat Tibetan tunes with their instructor. It is a Wednesday, and consequently, they’re dressed in the conventional dress ‘chupa’. Every corner of the college packed with colorful getting to know aids, one notices that there aren’t any benches in classrooms. The college students sit on a soft cushion placed on the ground, small wooden tables in front of them. In a few classrooms, wood tables are arranged in a circular form, to encourage group discussions. In some other room, some youngsters are dancing to foot-tapping Tibetan numbers. A portrait of The Dalai Lama hangs inside the background.
Dalai Lama these days said that “Tibet difficulty is no longer a warfare for political independence” but “there may be a need to focus on the renovation of Tibet’s cultural, spiritual and linguistic identification”. He additionally said that “as long as the Tibetan human beings can preserve their cultural, historical past, religion, and identity, it’ll carry them internal peace and happiness”.
For those younger Tibetans, born and taken up in a overseas land, a lesson of their very own subculture and background, starts at Montessori stage. A seed of desire, that someday they will go back to their personal us of a, is sown of their hearts.
Though it was in 1959, almost 60 years in the past that Dalai Lama had moved to India with eighty,000 fans after the Chinese invasion of Tibet, it changed into simplest in 2005 that the Basic Education Policy for Tibetans in Exile became formulated. It became applied from 2006 throughout Tibetan schools run with the aid of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), centered at Dharamshala (unofficially called Tibetan Government In-Exile), to help children live connected with their roots. Currently, there are at least 80,000 Tibetans settled in India.
Nearly 13 years after the Tibetan language turned into made the compulsory medium of preparation from Montessori until elegance three (without a different language to gain knowledge of until then), the lecturers say it modified things and children are actually extra linked to their own language.
‘Students now more connected to the Tibetan language and culture.’
As the debate continues in India over National Education Policy (NEP) and three-language coverage, the Tibetan education policy also requires a three-language coverage but the 2nd language (always English for the time being as according to policy) and third language (of the place where college is positioned and frequently Hindi currently) is added in elegance four and six, respectively. A fourth language (overseas language) can be opted from class 9. Earlier, Tibetan faculties additionally followed Indian pattern and taught English from kindergarten and Hindi from magnificence 1.
Chime Dolma, essential, Sambhota Tibetan School, Bir, with over three many years of teaching enjoy, says that because the coverage was carried out in 2006, college students at the moment are extra connected with the Tibetan language. “Earlier, they in no way took an interest in Tibetan as English become also taught to them right from kindergarten. Even class 10 college students felt uncomfortable and could not write a utility in Tibetan. We have been teaching them English from pre-primary and Hindi from magnificence 1. It became growing confusion. Now they’re greater proficient in all 3 languages,” says Dolma.
Even even though Tibetan students take board exams [Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)] in their ‘host’ united states of America, they need to have a look at Tibetan till class 12 as a compulsory subject. The coverage also provides a unique amalgamation of Tibetan and Indian values because of it alternatives numerous standards like ahimsa (non-violence), yoga, views of Indian educationists and so on from Indian subculture.
Other ideas — inclusive of SEE mastering (social, emotional & ethical), DEAR day on Saturdays (Drop Everything and Read), no benches, sitting close to teacher for motherly affection, no tuition fee (mother and father handiest pay nominal price for desk bound and lunch) — also are precise practices in Tibetan education device.
“According to the policy, Montessori system has replaced kindergarten. At Montessori degree-1, we teach kids only practicals of life. At stage 2, we start with sensory gaining knowledge of of Tibetan alphabets and numbers via touch and at level 3, social science is added along side Tibetan alphabets and numbers. Till magnificence 3, everything from poems, tune, dance, stories, folktales, gala’s is in Tibetan. We also have Tibetan language lab,” adds Dolma.
