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 are girls, poor children and orphans living in the Dzogchen region who wish to receive an education. Of course, the benefits don’t stop there, but trickle through to the girls’ families and are 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 includes boarding facilities so that the poorest girls are able to follow their schooling whilst living on the premises.

 

Project partners

Local committee for the Sambhota Schools 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.

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.

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

Zangdok Palri Organisations

 The Zangdok Palri organisations of Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark take an active part in the project. Precious help comes also from supporting groups in Sweden, Finland and Russia.