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Enrolment of Tibetan children in Himachal schools declines sharply
Tibetan Children's Village schools in Himachal Pradesh report nearly zero new admissions from Tibet, citing stricter border controls and low birth rates.
Schools run by Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV) — a charitable organisation working for the education of Tibetan children — in Himachal Pradesh have seen a gradual yet steep decline in the number of enrolments of children arriving from Tibet, and this year, most of the five TCV schools in the Himalayan state have reported nearly zero such admissions.
Besides fewer arrivals from Tibet to India over the last decade and a half, school administrators also cite factors such as migration to western countries and very low birth rate among Tibetans as possible reasons behind the decline in enrolment. In 2024, no new admissions of students arriving from Tibet have been reported at the Upper TCV School at Dharamsala — considered the mother of all TCV schools — as well as TCV school in Gopalpur, officials said.
Expressing concern over significant decline in enrolments, Tsultrim Dorjee, director of the Upper TCV School said: “In the past, nearly a thousand children would come each year, but since 2008, this number has steadily decreased. This year, there were no children arriving from Tibet.”
Last year, the school had recorded only four new admissions of children arriving from Tibet, with officials saying the decline is more and more steep with each passing year.
To be sure, these are admissions of children recently arrived from Tibet and not those living in India for years as well as children of Tibetan lineage arriving from countries such as Bhutan and Nepal. TCV schools also have around 10% quota for admission of native Indian students.
Officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile attribute the steep decline in Tibetans arriving in India to stricter border control imposed by the Chinese government. They claim that this trend started after the Chinese administration amped up surveillance around the border and mountain passes in 2008 following a major demonstration in Tibet.
“Our main aim is to retain our culture, heritage, religion, language, and values. The Chinese government is actively working to erase our culture, heritage and traditions in Tibet,” claimed Dorjee.
Besides the two schools cited above, there are three more TCV schools in Himachal Pradesh — Lower TCV School in Dharamshala, and one each in Chauntra and Suja.
Around 1,000 students are currently enrolled in Upper TCV School in Dharamshala — the biggest of the five — which started in 1960 following the arrival of the 14th Dalai Lama. Over the past 64 years, officials said, over 53,000 children have been graduated from TCV schools.
“All TCV schools are currently facing this issue. The number of students has been decreasing each year. TCV Gopalpur has not seen any new admissions from Tibet this year, and there are only 72 children at TCV Lower Dharamshala now. We are preparing to confront these challenges,” Kalsang Phuntsok, former director of TCV Gopalpur, said. “Till a few decades ago, almost all the children (enrolled in TCV schools) came from Tibet. However, the student population has been declining since 2008. At one time, TCV Gopalpur accommodated 1,200 children, but now it has just over 600.”
He also pointed out that “many young Tibetans in India are migrating to western countries, and the birth rate among Tibetan families is very low, contributing to this decline.”
