cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/45392831
In a move widely seen as an attempt to counter mounting international criticism, the Chinese government recently convened an “International Conference on Residential School Education and Highland Development” in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, to defend its controversial boarding school policy that has forcibly separated nearly one million Tibetan children from their families.
According to Chinese state media, the conference—held on October 27, 2025, at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China—brought together domestic and foreign participants, including experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Chinese officials claimed that the policy of residential schooling “promotes educational equality, interethnic exchange, and national integration,” and even hailed Tibet’s boarding schools as “a model of education that respects local culture.”
However, Tibetan and international rights groups have long denounced these assertions as a blatant cover-up of what they call a systematic campaign to eradicate the Tibetan language, religion, and way of life. The policy—enforced since the 1980s but dramatically expanded under Xi Jinping—places children as young as four in state-run boarding schools where instruction is conducted exclusively in Chinese, with little or no access to Tibetan cultural or religious education.
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