Three privately run Tibetan schools in Golog closed within weeks; orphan school's 300+ children displaced, CTA cites assimilation drive

Full report

Update (October 23, 2026): According to Tibet Express on October 23, the Tadra Project, which operates the Zade orphan school, says the school has not been completely shut down and continues to support 600 children and young people: after local authorities barred on-site classroom instruction in September 2026, 208 primary and secondary students were transferred to state-run public schools, while 360 college and university students (who return to the village on weekends and holidays), a small group of vocational students and six full-time staff remain attached to the site. The project is negotiating with local authorities for a compromise similar to the model at its first children's village in Dawu — functioning as a residential base during weekends and school breaks — but negotiations remain slow as organizers await responses from local authorities; the project says it will continue financing the education of all the young people previously in its care even if physical operations in Golog are ultimately forced to close. A note on identification: the Tadra Project's founder is the late Dr. Lobsang Palden Tawo, based in Germany — the same person this site's October 21 record named as the late Germany-based founder of the Zade school — and his widow now sits on the project's board and spoke to Tibet Express; the matching name, location and founding background confirm this update concerns the same school, not a fourth one. The difference between 'not completely shut down' and the September 2 'closure' reflects two levels: classroom instruction on site has stopped, while the institution as a support organization continues. This record remains 'under ongoing verification.' [3]

According to the CTA Department of Information and International Relations report (Dharamshala, October 17, relayed by wire services on October 20): on September 2, authorities closed the Golok Tadrak Orphan School in Tabo Village, Machen County. Founded in 2005 with funding from the late Dr. Tawu Lobsang Palden and his wife, who lived in Germany, the school gave both a home and an education to more than 300 children who had lost both parents or came from broken families. A week earlier, on August 27, authorities shut down the Ra-Gya Jigme Gyaltsen Grassland Girls' School (also known as Gangjong Tsathang Girls' School). The report says sources describe the government as closing private schools across Tibetan areas to accelerate national assimilation, moving Tibetan children into state-run institutions where they can more easily be subjected to political 're-education'; heavy surveillance of phone and internet communications makes independent information from Tibetan areas extremely difficult to obtain. [1]

According to TCHRD via Tibetan Express on October 21, the three closed schools are: the Golok Tadrak Orphan School (September 2, ~300 children), the Ra-Gya Jigme Gyaltsen Grassland Girls' School (August 27), and a village school in Jasag. The schools prioritized Tibetan language, culture and community traditions; after closure, pupils were pushed into Mandarin-medium state schools. [2]

Bitter Winter's October 20 investigation corroborates the girls' school closure: also known as the Grassland Girls' School or Snowland Grassland Girls' School, it was founded in 2005 by monk educator Ragya Jigme Gyaltsen and for 21 years taught Amdo nomad girls Tibetan language, Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan medicine, thangka painting and modern subjects; after closure the premises were taken over and renamed Ragya Town Girls' Middle School under a 'privately run, publicly funded' arrangement. Bitter Winter also notes the precedent: on July 12, 2024, authorities closed the Jigme Gyaltsen Nationalities Vocational School that the founder had created in 1994. UN experts have estimated that around one million Tibetan children live in state-run boarding schools, far from their families and their native tongue. [3]

Deduplication note: this site's October 19 record on the Ragya monastery abbot's five-year sentence already mentioned the closure of the Gangjong Tsathang Girls' School and the Kasak school — the girls' school being the same institution as this report's Grassland Girls' School under a different transliteration, i.e. the same fact in different reporting, not a new event; the orphan school and the Jasag village school closures are new facts from this report. This record takes the report itself — a coordinated three-school closure campaign within weeks — as its subject. [1][2][3]

Verification note: this record documents the CTA Department of Information and International Relations' October 17 report and TCHRD's related statements. The report cites 'reliable sources in the region,' and independent verification from inside Tibet is extremely difficult under heavy phone and internet surveillance; Chinese officials have not responded to the report; Bitter Winter's investigation relies mainly on exile media and social-media material. This record therefore attributes the closure facts throughout and is graded 'under ongoing verification'. [1][2][3]