China forcing Mandarin education on Tibetan preschoolers to accelerate assimilation, says Human Rights Watch report

The 72-page report, titled Start with the Youngest Children: China Uses Preschools to 'Integrate' Tibetans, outlines that a 2021 directive issued by China's Ministry of Education, known as the Children's Speech Harmonisation plan, requires the use of standard Mandarin Chinese for all preschool teaching in ethnic minority regions.

While kindergartens are theoretically allowed to provide additional sessions in minority languages, these communities no longer hold legal authority to implement such provisions. By significantly restricting Tibetan-language instruction during early childhood, a crucial period for language learning and identity development, the report argues that the Chinese government is accelerating the erosion of the Tibetan language and culture.

"The Chinese government, by focusing on kindergarten-aged children, is intensifying its efforts to strip Tibetan children of their native language, culture, and identity," said Maya Wang. "This approach is not about improving education standards but about enforcing assimilation into a Han-dominated national identity from an early age."

The findings are based on a review of Chinese legislation, policy papers, academic studies, and media reports. Human Rights Watch also conducted interviews with seven Tibetans and experts who have recent, first-hand knowledge of conditions in Tibetan regions, where access remains highly restricted.

According to the report, many Tibetan children leave preschool either unable or reluctant to speak their native language, even within their own families. Parents noted that within weeks or months of enrolling in kindergarten, children begin speaking almost exclusively in Chinese.

The 2021 Harmonisation Plan is described as the result of decades of policy changes that have steadily reduced mother-tongue education for minority groups. Since the 1984 Regional National Autonomy Law, China has progressed through multiple stages of implementing mandatory Chinese-language instruction at increasingly earlier ages. While this transition had already been completed in primary and secondary education, kindergartens were previously the last space where Tibetan could still serve as the primary medium of instruction.

In 2021, the Ministry of Education mandated that all kindergartens in minority regions adopt the "national common language," meaning standard Chinese, for all teaching and caregiving activities. References to "bilingual education" were subsequently removed from official policy documents. A combination of legal rulings, education laws, and government directives has effectively eliminated remaining support for minority-language education, while also embedding political and cultural indoctrination throughout the education system, including at the preschool level. This process culminated in the 2026 law on promoting ethnic unity and progress, which imposes penalties on individuals deemed to be obstructing the learning and use of Chinese, as noted in the HRW report.

Although preschool education is not legally mandatory in China, Human Rights Watch found that in Tibetan areas it has effectively become compulsory. Many primary schools in urban centres now require proof of kindergarten attendance for admission, leaving parents with little option but to enrol their children in Chinese-language preschools.

Human Rights Watch has urged the Chinese government to roll back policies enforcing Chinese-medium education in early childhood institutions, reinstate meaningful bilingual education, and put an end to political indoctrination in preschool environments. The organisation also called on foreign governments and the United Nations to pressure China to meet its international obligations and permit independent access to Tibetan regions and educational institutions. (ANI)