Dharamsala (AsiaNews) – The protest that broke out on Tuesday in Rongwo (Tongren in Chinese) in Qinghai has spread to other Tibetan areas of the province, with thousands of students involved, some very young. At the core of their demand is the repeal of the decision to stop teaching in Tibetan. The result has been that tensions are running high and police are patrolling the cities.

Chinese authorities have decided to introduce Chinese as the official language in Tibetan areas, despite the fact that locals speak Tibetan and view Mandarin as a foreign language. In many areas, this has already occurred with the result that wherever Chinese is the official language of public life, Tibetans suffer discrimination in public offices.

At dawn yesterday, thousands of high school students in Tawo (Dawu in Chinese), capital of Golog (Guolo) in Qinghai, took to the streets to protest the proposed reform. By 2 pm, police were patrolling the streets, checking papers and keeping people away from the protesters.

In Gedun Choepe Township (Tebkong County), demonstrations continued albeit inside the high school because the 12-14-year-old students were not allowed to leave the premises.

On Wednesday, more than 2,000 students took to the streets in Chabcha, in Chabcha (Gonghe) County, Hainan. A day earlier, they had been stopped by police and teachers. Protesters met in front of City Hall and the Prefecture Building, shouting slogans like “Freedom for the Tibetan Language”.

According to some reports, high school students demonstrated publicly in Tsigorthang (Xinghai) on Wednesday.

In an attempt to defuse tensions, the authorities have tried to meet the students. In some cases, officials have pledged that Tibetan would remain the language of education, despite official policy.

In Qinghai, the provincial secretary of the Communist Party has travelled to Rebkong County. He is the one who announced the new language policy in early October

In light of the situation, the authorities have moved in police reinforcements, but so far the latter have kept a relatively low profile, trying to contain the protests peacefully.

In all of the affected areas, Tibetan is still the language of education in all subject matters.

A former high school teacher, Tsering Dorje, told AsiaNews, “Students who study in their mother-tongue achieve much better results in their education, while many Tibetans who are forced to learn in Chinese are struggling to keep up or dropping out of education early.”

Free Tibet, an organisation that helps Tibetan refugees and pro-Tibetan rights activists, slammed China’s decision. “The use of Tibetan is being systematically wiped out as part of China's strategy to cement its occupation of Tibet,” it said earlier this week.

In recent years, China also stepped in policy of arresting Tibetan writers and artists. (N.C.)