Long-term aim of Zangdok Palri Sambhota school

This project is the first, we hope, in a range of projects in the general field of education. The long-term aim of the Zangdok Palri Lotus in this field is the creation of a fair and modern educational system which will preserve the culture of the nomad population while allowing it to develop its autonomy.

Specific objective

Because schooling is at present almost inaccessible to the girls and women of the nomad population, the specific objective of this project is to provide the infrastructure and organisation to allow Tibetan girls in the Dzogchen region access to education and training.

But the school is also targeting the most vulnerable population: orphans and children of extremely poor families.

Beneficiaries

The immediate beneficiaries of the project will be girls, poor children and orphans living in the Dzogchen region who wish to receive an education. Of course, the benefits will not stop there, but will trickle through to the girls' families and be passed on to their children in time, as well as to the wider community in which their new skills can be expected to bear fruit.

The school is designed to include boarding facilities so that the poorest girls will be able to follow their schooling whilst living on the premises.

Project partners

Local committee for the School for Girls project

This project responds to a request from the Tibetan population, represented by a local organising committee made up of representatives from the varios nomad communities.

The Chinese authorities

The Chinese authorities have approved the construction of the school and are collaborating on the project by providing school books and paying a share of the teachers' salaries.

Swedish Tibetan Society for School and Culture

The Zangdok Palri Lotus is working in partnership with the Swedish Tibetan Society for School and Culture, a Swedish non-governmental organisation which has been building schools in Tibet since 1996. The Society's mission is to build, renovate or assist 108 schools in Tibet, with the long-term objective of preserving Tibetan language and culture by providing basic education for Tibetan children. Since it started working, the Society has built or renovated 33 schools throughout Tibet.

Collaborating with this Swedish organisation will enable the Zangdok Palri Lotus to benefit from the outset from valuable experience and greatly enhances our chances of success.

Zangdok Palri Organizations

The Zangdok Palri Organizations of Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark took an active part into the project. Precious help came also from supporting groups in Sweden, Finland and Russia.

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