Educating New Tibetan Refugees

Around 40 percent of refugees are children and youth who flee from Tibet in search of better education and more freedom. Most arrive with very limited academic skills or formal training due to lack of adequate educational opportunities in Tibet. From the educational component of the US government Humanitarian Assistance Grant, we have been able to help fund exclusive schools for the newly-arrived refugees and extend support towards basic education, vocational training, food, clothing, shelter and medical care. In 2016 alone, 3,271 monks and nuns who arrived from Tibet received financial support to pursue traditional education at 56 monasteries and nunneries in India. As of 2017, 1,934 newly arrived Tibetans received free education at three residential schools, and 2,562 high school and college students received career guidance and counseling.

Tibetan Scholarship Program

Considered as one of the most successful higher education initiatives undertaken by The Tibet Fund, the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs established the Tibetan Scholarship Program (TSP) in 1988. The fundamental goal of the TSP is to provide scholarships to Tibetans in exile to pursue higher education in the US. The program has generated valuable Tibetan human capital as many alumni now assume key leadership positions in various fields and bring newer skills and innovative approaches to aid in the functioning and development of the Tibetan community.

The Tibet Fund has effectively implemented the TSP in partnership with the CTA’s Department of Education, enabling a total of 453 Tibetan students to receive higher education at some of America’s most prestigious educational institutions. The scholarship coordinator of The Tibet Fund facilitates the admission process for TSP scholars, participates in the selection process, and successfully negotiates tuition discounts for the TSP students. In 2021, 21 scholarship recipients pursued master’s degrees in subjects including journalism, law, chemical engineering, sociology, computer science and documentary films at universities including Columbia, Harvard, the University of Texas at Austin, NYU and Rutgers.

Student Sponsorship

Our children’s sponsorship program has reached out to the most disadvantaged sections of Tibetan society and acted as an intervention to help alleviate their source of vulnerability. Currently, support over 80 institutions and organizations in exile. In 2021, the sponsorship supported 296 monks, 102 nuns, 468 school children, 48 disabled children, 65 elders, and twenty-eight performing arts students.

This aid and assistance have brought them succor from their otherwise daily struggles to focus on other life goals such as educational enrichment and employment opportunities. The works in this area not only target breaking the cycle of deprivation but also substantively enhance the lives and wellbeing of the most vulnerable sections of the society.

To Sponsor a student please click here

2023 Tibetan Girls Scholarship Program (TGSP) Recipients

We are pleased to announce that the winners of the 2023 Tibetan Girls Scholarship Program, an initiative providing full scholarships to young women with limited financial resources pursuing higher education.

Final Recipients 2023 Girls Scholarship Program

Dechen Dolkar                                    Dharamshala                         BA French
Kalsang Dechen                                Bir                               General Nursing and Midwifery
Ngawang Droenkyi                           Dehradun                                B. Sc Nursing
Tsering Phurbu                                  Dharamshala                        B.Tech
Tenzin Pema                                      Mundgod                               B. Sc Nursing
Tenzin Phenthok                              Nepal                                      B. Sc Nursing
Tenzin Yangkyi                                 Nepal                                      B. Sc Nursing
Tenzin Yeshi                                      Bylakuppe                             B. Sc Nursing

Tibet Education Project

Tibet Education Project (TEP) is a five-year USAID funded education project that began in 2012 to improve the quality of educational opportunities, increase access to higher education and professional degree programs, and strengthen the management and development of the Tibetan education system. Through an assessment of existing education system and introduction of new educational strategies and model practices, the TEP has significantly strengthened the Tibetan education system as a whole.

By the end of the project completion in September 2017,

• 10,680 early grade students at 63 primary schools received early grade reading support including new children’s books, classroom reading corners, teacher and librarian training, and parent workshops.
• 8,138 middle and secondary school students at 21 Tibetan schools in India benefitted from new science education strengthening initiative.
• 637 students received scholarships for undergraduate and graduate studies.
• 1,606 students received test preparation coaching at 15 Tibetan schools in India.
• 1,152 educators at 75 Tibetan schools including teachers, school leaders, librarians and counselors received training, mentoring and school-based professional development benefitting 21,090 students in India and Nepal
• Several new educational strategies and practices were introduced by the CTA Department of Education such as mobile science exhibition, science teaching centers, online resource for higher education and career etc.