The overarching linguistic objective of Tibetan education in exile is to guarantee all Tibetan students bi-literacy and bilingualism in both the Tibetan and English languages. Achieving this aim increases the likelihood that Tibetan children receive a high-quality, modern education to be successful in an ever-changing world. 

At TCEF, we continue to ask these questions: With the changing times, what are some real needs of Tibetan education in exile? Where can we make a difference for them? This winter, I’ve had multiple conversations with our partners in India asking these very same questions. 

Improving the quality of education is going to take a multi faceted effort – involving quality teacher training, building an exception cadre of Tibetan education leadership and then transforming Tibetan classrooms with education technologies. And right here – transforming Tibetan classrooms is where we feel TCEF can make a vital difference – maybe not for all Tibetan schools, but at least in a few select schools.

TCEF believes that the endangered Tibetan culture premised on compassion and altruism is precious, not only for Tibetans but also for the whole world. We think it is vital to transmit it to the children.

In the project, the Tibetan children at Kyitsel-ling Tibetan Children’s Education Center ( Kyitsel-ling) will themselves make the prayer flags manually. In doing so, they will be actively engaged in a colorful and fascinating facet of Tibetan culture. And, we believe that this will be hands-on cultural transmission – the very best way to learn about our culture.Finally, the proceeds from the sales will go to benefit the Tibetan Elders Program.

Science is one of the core subjects studied in this school right from grade 1. However, due to financial constraints, the school has never had a Science Lab and the school administration again requested TCEF’s help. TCEF board member Jennifer Prugh visited the school, saw the need first hand and reached out to her circle of friends for help.

In April 2018, the school completed all the needed renovations, purchase of supplies and installation of equipment. The inauguration of the Science Lab was attended by TCEF Executive Director Karma Tensum along with other local dignitaries.

The Sambhota Tibetan School in Miao in Arunachal Pradesh is located in a remote area. A request was received from the school for funds to procure teaching aids for its pre-primary section. TCEF was able to raise this modest amount primarily through the fundraising effort of sponsor Karen Cooper of Helena, MT

Phase 2 of this project involved TCEF board member and Education Consultant, Sara Buckerfield, conducting a workshop for 26 Tibetan teachers on this key issue of English Aquisition in Tibetan Schools in Exile. Sara worked extremely hard to develop content that is both professional and has the potential to immensely benefit the teachers at the workshop.

The Ramdha Buddhist Society (RBS) is an educational hostel for Himalayan children. It is located at Sidhpur, a small town outside of Dharamshala. It is home to 60 children from the Lahul and Spiti region. The children range in age from 6-21 years old. The hostel provides room and board, tutoring and supervision for students attending primary, high school and college. The project helped much needed repairs and upgrades to the washroom facilities there.

As the name suggests, this project will replace the old chalk boards in about twenty classrooms in this school and replace them with new white boards. The advantages of white boards with an array of colorful dry erase pens is clear and we think that this can be a big first step in changing at least a few of the Tibetan classrooms in exile.

The overarching linguistic objective of Tibetan education in exile is to guarantee all Tibetan students bi-literacy and bilingualism in both the Tibetan and English languages. Achieving this aim increases the likelihood that Tibetan children receive a high-quality, modern education to be successful in an ever-changing world. 

At TCEF, we continue to ask these questions: With the changing times, what are some real needs of Tibetan education in exile? Where can we make a difference for them? This winter, I’ve had multiple conversations with our partners in India asking these very same questions. 

Improving the quality of education is going to take a multi faceted effort – involving quality teacher training, building an exception cadre of Tibetan education leadership and then transforming Tibetan classrooms with education technologies. And right here – transforming Tibetan classrooms is where we feel TCEF can make a vital difference – maybe not for all Tibetan schools, but at least in a few select schools.

TCEF believes that the endangered Tibetan culture premised on compassion and altruism is precious, not only for Tibetans but also for the whole world. We think it is vital to transmit it to the children.

In the project, the Tibetan children at Kyitsel-ling Tibetan Children’s Education Center ( Kyitsel-ling) will themselves make the prayer flags manually. In doing so, they will be actively engaged in a colorful and fascinating facet of Tibetan culture. And, we believe that this will be hands-on cultural transmission – the very best way to learn about our culture.Finally, the proceeds from the sales will go to benefit the Tibetan Elders Program.

Science is one of the core subjects studied in this school right from grade 1. However, due to financial constraints, the school has never had a Science Lab and the school administration again requested TCEF’s help. TCEF board member Jennifer Prugh visited the school, saw the need first hand and reached out to her circle of friends for help.

In April 2018, the school completed all the needed renovations, purchase of supplies and installation of equipment. The inauguration of the Science Lab was attended by TCEF Executive Director Karma Tensum along with other local dignitaries.

The Sambhota Tibetan School in Miao in Arunachal Pradesh is located in a remote area. A request was received from the school for funds to procure teaching aids for its pre-primary section. TCEF was able to raise this modest amount primarily through the fundraising effort of sponsor Karen Cooper of Helena, MT

Phase 2 of this project involved TCEF board member and Education Consultant, Sara Buckerfield, conducting a workshop for 26 Tibetan teachers on this key issue of English Aquisition in Tibetan Schools in Exile. Sara worked extremely hard to develop content that is both professional and has the potential to immensely benefit the teachers at the workshop.

The Ramdha Buddhist Society (RBS) is an educational hostel for Himalayan children. It is located at Sidhpur, a small town outside of Dharamshala. It is home to 60 children from the Lahul and Spiti region. The children range in age from 6-21 years old. The hostel provides room and board, tutoring and supervision for students attending primary, high school and college. The project helped much needed repairs and upgrades to the washroom facilities there.

As the name suggests, this project will replace the old chalk boards in about twenty classrooms in this school and replace them with new white boards. The advantages of white boards with an array of colorful dry erase pens is clear and we think that this can be a big first step in changing at least a few of the Tibetan classrooms in exile.