The traditional symbol of learning in Tibet used to be the stairs leading to the gold roof of the Potala Palace. Young men climbed the stairs in preparation for the supreme goal - unification of the state and the monastery. Women constituted more than half of the Tibetan population, but they never had the chance to participate in the government. Most of them, including the majority of women from noble families, were illiterate.
"Women were barred from government posts and they had no right to education. Illiteracy meant they had no voice in state affairs," according to Gao Shizhen, a Tibetan woman and the vice mayor of Lhasa. She considers women's education to be a part of national education. Following the peaceful liberation of Tibet, education advanced. Women gained education, social status and the right to participate in building the new government.
Gao Shizhen is a college graduate from Garze, a region of western Sichuan Province adjacent to Tibet. She had the highest level of education among the senior Tibetan women cadres. In Garze women her age had more opportunities than in Tibet, but nonetheless Gao studied for only three years in primary school before she turned 14 and joined the People's Liberation Army where she continued to study in her spare time. In 1953 she left the military to work in the education and publicity department in Gyangze City, and Tibet became her second homeland. In 1957 Gao enrolled in a Tibetan language course run by the Tibet Youth League, and she graduated with a degree after two years.
Historically, Tibetan educational training served three purposes: to train monastic and government officials, to train monks and to train the sons of wealthy families. The last division was common in all parts of the country and usually took the form of a private school. "However, women were not allowed to attend school, not even girls from aristocratic families. They either studied at home or were sent out of the country," Gao added. But thanks to liberation Gao enjoyed equal opportunities to education as now do all Tibetan women.
Our visit to Tibet was made during summer vacation. We saw little boys and girls romping in courtyards and on street corners. Many children from cadres' families attend pre-school. Tibet's universal education program was established only after liberation. Concerned citizens, PLA garrison forces, and the Tibet Work Committee started the first primary school in Qamdo. Schools were later set up in Lhasa, Xigaze, Gyangze, Nyingchi, Yadong, and Dengqen. The six-year program includes Tibetan language, arithmetic, Han-Chinese language, geography, history, natural and social sciences, music and physical education.
The first secondary school, the Lhasa Middle School, was established by the autonomous regional government in 1956. In the following year, the Tibetan Public School was set up at Xianyang of Shanxi Province. After 1959 the Tibet educational department concentrated efforts on opening more schools and setting up literacy classes for emancipated serfs. By 1965, the year the Tibet Autonomous Region was officially proclaim-ed, the area had I ,820 primary schools, enrolling 66,000 students, of which about half were girls. In addition, a portion of the 2,480 teachers and staff members were women.
The Teachers' School, established in Lhasa in 1961, enrolls 450 students, of which almost 50 percent are women. The teaching staff totals 110. In 1965, the Tibetan Public School in Shanxi expanded to become the Tibetan Nationalities College, Tibet's first institution of higher education.
The regional government has decided to expand the Teachers' School into a university. When the project is finished, Tibet will have a multi--department institute on its own land. We were fortunate to have the opportunity to visit the construction site.
We were received by Lecturer Chen Laidejiu and Gesang of the Teachers' School. Formerly a teacher of Tibetan language in Shanxi, she now takes advanced courses in the Tibetan Department. Our hosts helpfully answered my questions about women's educational and political activities in the region, and told me about the situation of the teaching staff at the Teachers' School.
The faculty consists of 226 teachers in all, 67 of whom are women. Tibetan women teachers totaled 24, about ten percent of the entire faculty. This proportion, though small, rep-resents remarkable progress over 30 years ago, when almost all Tibetan women could neither read nor write. Lecturer Chen remarked, "It does take time to spread education among the people."
Before liberation, Tibetan women belonged to the lowest caste. Women were excluded from all major religious ceremonies. Male chauvinism was the tradition and from early childhood, boys received preferential treatment. When a boy turned 18, he automatically became head of his family. By then, he was well versed in handling legal and business affairs. When a girl turned 15, however, she had to know how to milk the cow, make wine, and serve the needs of her family. There was a common saying, "The man d6es anything he wishes in the house; the woman serves as a talking tool." Women had no legal claim to their husband's property. They had no rights to inheritance. However, if a man married into his wife's family, he instantly became the head of the family and was entitled to inherit. The Tibetan Law Code at that time stipulated, "Women have no rights to discuss affairs of state," "Slaves and women are not allowed to participate in military and governmental affairs," "Women were not allowed in any circumstances to touch a man's talisman and sword." The final insult was the stipulation that a woman is fined when she was raped.
During my stay in Tibet, I saw local women active in all fields, including those, which used to be out of bounds for them. As their status improves, more and more can participate in the management of state affairs. Some now hold top posts within the local government. One former serf, named Pasang, is now Party secretary of the regional committee. Women hold 13,400 cadre posts in Tibet. Among them, 78 work at the county level, and make up 17 percent of total county cadres. Thirty-seven percent of the Tibetan delegates to the Fifth National People's Congress were women.
A production responsibility system has been introduced to Tibet's pastoral and agricultural regions. Farmers and herdsmen are personally responsible for the land and herds under their care. They work hard all day, and the countryside is prospering. We saw people sitting in brown yurts by cheery fires, eating roast meat, drinking yogurt, and listening to storytellers. We saw them wandering over the grasslands, singing. Following the development of the commodity economy, more and more people have be-come aware of the importance of science and technology. Capable per-sons are invited to work in the countryside and they receive handsome pay. By the same token, many local people are sending their sons and daughters away to prestigious schools.
The combination of a nomadic life and new rural policies which en-courage peasants to prosper, however, has to a certain extent adversely affected the advancements of universal education. Young people, especially girls, will sometimes drop out of school in order to work and boost family income. On the eve of my departure from Lhasa, I met with Gao Shizhen again and mentioned my observation. She replied, "My Tibetan sisters have emerged from the slave status. They are moving into a new society. It is impossible to push them hack down the old path, and bar them from schools and government institutions. But we must work doubly hard to help women realize' the importance of science and education and shake themselves of ignorance and illiteracy. We shall encourage them to plunge fully into the cause of building a happy society."
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The traditional symbol of learning in Tibet used to be the stairs leading to the gold roof of the Potala Palace. Young men climbed the stairs in preparation for the supreme goal - unification of the state and the monastery. Women constituted more than half of the Tibetan population, but they never had the chance to participate in the government. Most of them, including the majority of women from noble families, were illiterate.
