Gyalten Charity School Tibet

Ganzi County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province

Sponsorships

Purpose of the school

Teaching and school management

Future of the school

School finances

Sponsor a child at Gyalten Charity School

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This small primary school situated in East Tibet, was founded in 1994 by Gyalten Rinpoche, to provide free education for the poor  rural Tibetan children in the area.  “I opened a school because I think literacy and culture are extremely important. In my family, everyone but me was illiterate.” Gyalten Rinpoche

"During Tenzins (my attendant) visit in 2005, I sponsored a lunch for everyone. I have also committed to build 10 classrooms, and have offered 120,000 Yuan (A$21,000) so far. However the classrooms will cost around  550,000 Yuan (A$94,000) to build, which starts April this year.  I also gave 30,000 Yuan (A$5,200) for the machine to make herbal medicine. Gyalten Charity School offers a class on traditional Tibetan Herbal Medicine and at the same time, have a clinic where the local villagers can go for treatment (no charge) by the teaching Doctor. Every day there are 30 to 40 patients. Gyalten Rinpoche has asked me to find sponsors (Aus$120 a year) for his 281 students, to enable them to have a chance in life by providing an education. Any donations at all are  gratefully accepted. "
Khensur Kangur Rinpoche  2006     

Sponsorships

The school  was established to provide education for the very poor children in the surrounding rural area and, as a charity school, is free to students. It is freezing, barren and conditions extremely harsh, and most students travel for an hour or two to attend six days a week.  We     provide a cup of hot milk at lunchtime, and they go home in the dark.  There isn’t any electricity, heating, and few chairs or desks.  Stationery is limited, food is non existent and illness is rife.

The school is financed entirely through funds raised by Gyalten Rinpoche and is free to the students. It is supported by Khensur Rinpoche.   Gyalten Rinpoche has big plans for his school.  At present, enrolled students are limited to villages within walking distance of the school, but he receives frequent inquiries from faraway places such as Dege and Luhuo.  Therefore he is raising funds for construction of student dormitories, so that boarding students can be accommodated.  He plans to recruit more teachers, and build housing for them.  He also plans to build a kitchen and outhouse, both of which are currently lacking.

In 2002 there were 260 students enrolled, aged 8 to 18; some orphaned, some with one parent only. They attend 6 days a week, learning Tibetan, Chinese, English, the four classical volumes of Tibetan medicine, mathematics, moral education, history, tailoring and art. The school emphasizes equal opportunity for both genders, and prepares  students for trade or higher study.  To overcome the difficulties in  hiring teachers, in 1996 the school sent four students (2 male 2 female) with better academic results to study at college, paying for all their expenses. Upon graduation, they are to come back to the school to teach.  The children are provided with a mug of tea each day and they sit on wooden stools or on the floor.  The most urgent need is electricity for lighting and more importantly, heating as the buildings are of mud and straw, with large gaps in the windows and doors, allowing the freezing winds to blow through. 

Gyalten Lobsang Shampa Rinpoche is the principal of the school. He pays for all the expenses of the school. He hired a retired teacher with more than twenty years of teaching and administrative experience to be the vice principal and to take care of everyday matters of the school.

Gyalten Private School officially opened on October 1, 1994. Under the circumstances then, the plan was to open two classes only, mainly to enroll agricultural and husbandry school-age children and handicapped teenagers, orphans, children from very poor families, from the four villages in Rongbeifen area and the nearby Gonglong village of the Shengkang area. The school emphasizes equal opportunity for both genders. That year's plan was to enroll 80 students. But under the constant requests of many parents, the actual enrollment was 138 students, 87 being boys and the other 51 being girls. Three classes were established, and six teachers and one cook were hired. Subjects taught in school included Tibetan language, Chinese language, Tibetan mathematics, drawing, moral education, sports, etc.

The purpose of founding the school

Ganzi County is located in the northwest side of Sichuan Province, and is considered by Sichuan Province as a very poor county that needs to be heavily subsidized. Its population consists of old and young generation, minority, and very poor families. Due to poverty, a majority of the agricultural and husbandry families cannot afford to send the kids to school or pay for their education, or to even think about the children's future. Though some children were sent to schools, most never realize the advantages of education or knowing why they are so poor. They do not understand the importance and necessity of learning. Most are worried about their immediate needs and never plan for the future. Many school age children stay home to do housework, to herd cows and horses, taking care of their younger siblings and looking after the house. Thus most children never have a chance to attend school, and for the few who do, many drop out due to poverty.

To ensure that these children can receive an education, and to gradually eliminate the illiteracy of the homeland, to develop Tibetan education, to cultivate an educated next generation, to benefit the future generations, the responsibilities faced are enormous. This free-of-charge school was therefore founded in our poor mountainous area.

To establish an education institute is not an easy task: there needs to be sufficient funding and steady income, and good quality teachers. To satisfy these conditions, one cannot rely on mere waiting or rely on others. Time will not wait, the children's hope are to receive the necessary education to become useful to society, they will not like to become the illiterate of the next generation. To educate children is everyone's responsibility. If we do not care for them, do not emphasize or work hard to create a good environment and learning opportunity for them, it is not right. Everyone wants to lead a meaningful life and not wastes their time, and the way to do so is to do good deeds for the mankind, then one life will be considered worthwhile and meaningful. To help the poor people in the mountainous area out of poverty and to become wealthier, to ensure the happiness of the future generation, we are willing to overcome difficulties, live frugally to save up enough capital to run a good school that everyone likes and is happy about.

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Teaching and daily management

To run a good school to allow the students to learn well, having good teachers is very important. The teachers that the school hired must be dedicated to their job, to be responsible, to be willing to give all they have, to love the students, to love the school, and to love their chosen profession.

To run a good school, good educational management is also important. To push the school into the proper path, we ask for quality and efficiency from the management, to create a good system of rules and regulations, to encourage the "School's rules and regulations" and "Teachers duties handbook" that the school has worked out. The principal, disciplinary master, master of the classes, teachers of different subjects are also to carry out their responsibilities.

The purpose of founding the school is to develop the education among Tibetans, to cultivate a idealistic, moralistic, cultural and disciplined generation. Teaching is the focus of any school. During teaching, the school has improved on classroom management and daily management, improve teaching quality to emphasize on quality education. The school is also actively seeking to open a second classroom, to inspire the students' intelligence, to develop teaching and research activities, to mutually teach and learn, to improve the teachers' teaching abilities, to have a complete curriculum, to have enough teaching time. In winter, there are seven class periods daily, and in summer, nine daily. The focus of the guidance and monitoring is to seriously prepare the teaching materials, seriously to teach, seriously correct students' work, seriously assist the students.

In accordance with today's society's needs of quality manpower, to open up career training courses will be the way to train and cultivate qualified and skilled workers to solve the poverty problems and to move society into prosperity.

Besides emphasizing teaching, the school has also formed a Tibetan dance club, a lion dance team, a Tibetan opera club, to enrich the cultural life of the mountainous area.

The school also put together regular parent-teacher meetings every term; there have been five altogether. During the meeting, Gyalten Rinpoche explains the importance and necessity of learning new information, in order to motivate parents to send their children to school.

In short, during the three years ever the school was founded in 1994, under the careful planning and guidance of Gyalten Rinpoche, with the commitment of all the teachers and the great support of the many parents, the school has undergone significant development and teaching results, winning compliments and recognition from visiting government leaders and the local community. Up to now the school has received 78 thank-you letters and eulogies from the upper level and career training students and the students' parents. They thanked Gyalten Rinpoche for starting the education system in the poor mountainous area, to satisfy the children's needs and wishes and to give them a second life by creating a good learning environment. They also appreciated very much the unselfish giving of Gyalten Rinpoche.

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Future plans

Employ highly educated and well known teachers to join the faculty.

Improve disciplinary management of the students and to give them correct moral education.

Raise funds to build offices, two teachers' and students' dormitories, kitchen and toilets with a total area of 600 kong.

Celebrate the graduation of the first Tibetan arts class students, and honor the start of their service to family and society.

Make plans to open a Tibetan medicine processing plant.

Make plans to open a Tibetan incense processing plant.

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Finances

Students' textbooks, pencils, exercise books total expense is 12500.00 yuan (US$1543).
Students' tea, salt and fuel: yearly expense is 2500.00 yuan (US$309).

Seven additional classrooms with a total area of 600 kong need to be built, the fund needed being 540 thousand yuan (US$66,000).

The interior decoration and furniture and equipment will need 300 thousand yuan (US$37,000).

To install lights and the purchase of transformers will need a fund of 60 thousand yuan (US$54,000).

A system for delivering portable water needs a fund of 40 thousand yuan (US$4,940).

A previous loan of 200 thousand yuan (US$24,600) to build the present classrooms and walls, and to build teachers' hostels, has not been repaid yet.

The total amount of fund mentioned above is 1,221,100 yuan (US$150,753). We would like to request assistance, large or small, from anyone willing to help. All the teachers and staff and students of the school will take Gyalten Rinpoche's unselfish giving as a role model, to work harder to develop the education system for the ethnic group to fulfill Gyalten Rinpoche's lofty goals.

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