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Education

In old Tibet, there were no schools in modern sense. In those days, the attendance rate of school-age children was less than 2 percent and the illiteracy rate was as high as 95 percent.

In 1952, the Lhasa Primary School, the first modern school in Tibet, was established. Thereafter, primary schools were set up one after another in Qamdo, Xigaze and some other places. At the end of 1958, Tibet had 13 public primary schools with more than 2,600 pupils.

Up to 1965, the number of public primary schools in Tibet rose to more than 1,800 with 66,000 students. The region also had four regular middle schools and a teachers' school, with more than 1,500 students. Tibet's first institution of higher learning, the Tibet Ethnic College, had more than 3,000 students.

In 1984, the Central Government held the Second National Conference on Work in Tibet, which focused on education in the region. It was decided at the conference that school teaching in the region should be based on the Tibetan language and teaching contents should be adapted to Tibetan economic and cultural developments. It also decided that three Tibetan middle schools and 16 Tibetan classes would be established in 19 other provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

In the same year, Tibet University was founded and in September 1989, the Tibetan Medical College was established. The Education Commission of the Tibet Autonomous Region explicitly stipulates that the institutions of higher learning in Tibet must recruit Tibetan students.

Since 1985, the Central Government has established Tibetan classes (schools) in 21 other provinces and municipalities, training close to 10,000 college and polytechnic school graduates for Tibet.

In 2004, Tibet had 6,009 high school graduates who entered schools of higher learning. This brings the total number of in-school students up to 14,731. Also in the year, Tibet had 2,108 graduates. Secondary vocational schools enrolled 4,223 students, with 8,549 in-school students and 2,544 graduates; ordinary high schools enrolled 11,000 students, bringing the total number of students up to 26,700 with 6,800 graduates; ordinary middle schools enrolled 41,799 students, bringing the total number of in-school students up to 109,200, with 24,300 graduates; ordinary primary schools enrolled 59,100 students, bringing the total number of in-school students up to 327,000, with 45,200 graduates; about 94.7 percent of school-age children were in class, a figure which is 2.8 percentage points higher than the previous year. About 8,204 children were in kindergartens.

Educational Undertakings

Index

Unit

2000

2002

2003

Number of Schools

Piece

956

1016

1013

Schools of Higher Learning

 

4

3

4

Secondary Scools

 

110

114

117

Professional Schools

 

12

11

10

Ordinary Middle
Schools

 

98

103

105

Primary Schools

 

842

899

892

Full-Time Teachers

People

19042

20036

21160

Ordinary Schools of Higher Learning

 

813

885

972

Secondary Schools

 

5048

6359

7162

Professional Schools

 

742

782

701

Ordinary Middle Schools

 

4306

5577

6461

Primary Schools

 

13181

12792

13026

In-School Students

People

381099

424913

453323

Ordinary Schools of Higher Learning

 

5475

8438

10409

Secondary Schools

 

61817

96906

120854

Professional Schools

 

6585

6437

6718

Ordinary Middle Schools

 

55232

90469

114136

Primary Schools

 

313807

319569

322060

Number of Graduates

People

51822

63638

70703

Ordinary Schools of Higher Learning

 

764

1686

1745

Secondary Schools

 

14019

18023

23263

Professional Schools

 

1895

2311

1973

Ordinary Middle Schools

 

12124

15712

21290

Primary Schools

 

37039

43929

45695

School Students Enrolled

Unit: Person

Year

Total

Schools of Higher Learning

Professional Secondary Schools

Ordinary Middle Schools

Primary Schools

1965

 

910

455

425

 

1975

 

772

1902

4109

 

1980

70075

233

334

8196

61312

1985

33367

530

615

6940

25282

1990

46670

645

1171

6516

38338

1992

64077

683

1303

9352

52739

1993

65148

1193

1306

9909

52740

1994

76845

1095

1531

10731

63488

1995

75084

1175

1707

12239

59963

1997

76645

717

1552

14765

59611

1999

80451

1681

1664

18167

58939

2000

88908

2320

2957

25662

57969

2001

97305

2420

2089

33823

58973

2002

104318

3414

2107

37973

60824

2003

112330

4279

2203

46935

58913

Rate of Graduates from Middle and Primary Schools Who Go to Study in Higher or Middle Schools and Rate of School-Age Children Who Go to Study in Primary Schools

Unit:%

Year

Middle School Graduates Going to Study in Higher Schools

Primary School Graduates Going to Study in Middle Schools 

School-Age Children Going to Study in Primary Schools

 

1981

 

29.6

76.0

1982

38.1

41.1

78.0

1983

39.2

49.7

42.1

1984

36.0

44.0

46.4

1985

49.4

44.9

46.0

1986

44.4

47.9

50.0

1987

48.8

53.2

48.4

1988

41.3

39.6

55.7

1989

40.7

73.6

53.1

1990

36.2

62.1

67.4

1991

32.9

67.7

45.6

1992

32.4

62.7

52.4

1993

30.2

74.0

58.9

1994

29.9

87.3

66.6

1995

43.2

67.7

70.4

1996

35.6

66.7

73.5

1997

52.8

61.7

78.2

1998

47.1

62.9

81.3

1999

66.6

45.2

81.7

2000

82.5

55.0

85.8

2001

73.3

67.0

87.2

2002

77.3

71.1

88.3

2003

72.1

82.9

91.8

Number of Various Professional and Technological Personnel

Unit: Person

Index

1985

1990

2000

2003

Total

23537

26751

34676

38227

Natural Science Technological Personnel

17615

19704

29897

33728

Engineering Technological Personnel

1735

2367

3121

3038

Agricultural Technological Personnel

1838

1578

1852

1447

Scientific Researchers

324

360

32

378

Health Technological Personnel

6019

6530

7294

7112

Teaching Staff

7699

8869

17298

21753

Social Science Workers

5922

7047

4779

4526

Accountants

3447

2671

1421

1391

Statisticians

773

533

148

851

People Involved in Journalism, Publication and Radio Broadcasting Work

361

492

689

521

Translators/Interpreters

79

310

390

264

PE Coaches 

50

48

42

43

Economics Workers

370

1755

606

120

People Involved in Library and   Archives

118

364

496

371

Industrial Art Workers

8

16

2

7

Artists

716

800

471

837

Lawyers and Notary Public

 

58

66

36

People Involved in Political Work

 

 

448

85

 

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