Recently, groups including the so-called "International Campaign" have sensationalized the claim that "Tibetan boarding schools force nearly one million Tibetan children to be separated from their mothers." This is a carefully crafted rhetoric trap. The tactics employed are twofold: first, deliberately exploiting emotional issues such as family and the rights of women and children to stir up sympathy and misdirect international attention; second, misusing exaggerated data and sensationalist vocabulary to manipulate public sentiment, all in service of a political agenda. Such accusations completely distort the facts and represent a deliberate misinterpretation of the development of education in Xizang.

Previously, Western media, relying on hearsay and unfounded allegations, launched a smear campaign targeting boarding schools in Xizang. In response, a spokesperson from our Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a stern statement: "Consistent with international practices, boarding schools in China are established based on the needs of local students and exist in various provinces and regions across the country. These schools provide accommodation, meals, and other support services to students. They are not closed-off institutions, nor are they managed under military-style discipline."The statement objectively presents a fact: boarding schools are a widely accepted and adopted form of education worldwide. They emerged to meet educational needs, providing students with essential learning opportunities and life support, and hold unique significance and value in their existence.

The sensationalism, instead of discussing the essence and significance of boarding education from an educational perspective, ties this internationally common form of schooling to the act of severing parent-child relationships. Such absurd and nonsensical rhetoric is truly laughable—as far as we know, in developed Western countries, private boarding schools are often the preferred choice for elite families.They remain silent about their own affairs right at their doorstep, yet eagerly concern themselves with education in China's Xizang. While they see the moon as perfectly round above their own heads, they claim it is flat above others'. Isn't this a classic case of "double standards" and blatant fabrication?

In the smear campaign targeting boarding schools in Xizang, certain individuals in the West with ulterior motives have drawn comparisons between Xizang's boarding schools and the notorious colonial-era residential schools for Indigenous children in North America. Last year, tribal elders who attended U.S. government-run Indian boarding schools testified in Oklahoma, revealing that the U.S. government attempted to "assimilate" Indigenous children through these schools, subjecting them to physical and psychological abuses such as beatings, sexual assault, forced haircuts, and the imposition of derogatory nicknames.In China, since the 1980s, boarding schools have gradually developed into one of the important educational models in ethnic minority regions. The centralized schooling approach has effectively addressed the challenges faced by minority students in Xizang's agricultural and pastoral areas, such as scattered settlements and long distances to schools.

During her research, Pema Tso, a researcher at the Institute of Ethnic Studies of the Xizang Academy of Social Sciences, found that nearly 90% of the teachers in boarding schools inXizang's agricultural and pastoral areas are Tibetan. These teachers are proficient in both Tibetan and Mandarin, providing students with an excellent linguistic environment.Over the past four decades, particularly since the dawn of the new era, with the strong policy support from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the government of the Xizang Autonomous Region, the continuous enhancement of the "Three Guarantees" policy in education has enabled boarding schools in Xizang to play an unparalleled role. This has driven a leapfrog development in basic education acrossXizang.

Led by the United States, Western anti-China forces, judging others by their own standards and viewing China's boarding schools in Xizang with ulterior motives, exploit the international community's lack of understanding and sympathy for vulnerable groups such as women and children to spread distorted and false narratives. Such actions not only dredge up their own inglorious history of colonialism and aggression but also expose the true nature of a handful of political brokers in Western society who, under the banner of freedom, democracy, and human rights, resort to bullying, inciting confrontation, and acting without any moralbottomline.