New Delhi, 7 January, 2012: The Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre successfully organised the 8th School Student Workshop: Introducing the Tibetan Democracy and Situation of Tibet in two phases. The first phase was held at the Lower Tibetan Children’s Village School in Dharamsala from 26 December 2011 to 1 January 2012 and the second in Delhi from 1 to 4 January, 2012. The workshop is organised every year to impart a practical education to the class XI students enrolled in Tibetan schools across India and Nepal. This time there were 88 participants in total comprising of 74 students and 14 teachers from 16 different schools.
In the first phase, the students were introduced about the functioning of the Tibetan democracy in Exile and situation of Tibet. The students were made thoroughly understand the structure and workings of the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan NGOs; the achievements, challenges and future prospects of the three pillars of the Tibetan democracy; and informed them about the current Tibetan political situation and human rights situation inside Tibet.
A set of questionnaires were distributed among the students at the beginning and at the end to evaluate the level of their awareness regarding the democratic organisational structure and the Tibetan community in exile in general. The students were also taken on tour to see themselves the workings of the departments and institutions of the CTA in Dharamsala.
28 resource persons of varied subject viz. Tibetan politics, administration, health, education, human rights etc. spoke at the workshop. Eminent persons like Kalon Tripa Dr. Lobsang Sangay, TPiE Speaker Mr. Penpa Tsering, Health Kalon Mr. Tsering Wangchuk and TPiE Deputy Speaker Ven. Sonam Tenphel were among the speakers.
In the second phase, the students were taken on educational tour to the Parliament of India, the Indian National Museum, the Nehru Planetarium, the Gandhi Smriti, the Gandhi Samadhi, and the World Peace Pagoda. They were given a career counselling presentation by an expert Dr. S.K. Acharya. They were also taken on a visit to the Delhi University and its surrounding colleges to get first-hand information on college admission and education.
On the final day, Mr. Rawat, Education Officer of the CTSA and Mr. Kesang Gonpo, Education Officer of the CTA imparted guidance and shared their knowledge to the students and the teachers as a whole.
