Tibetan Women's Association kicks off awareness tour from Dharamshala, to conclude on Nov 20 in Delhi

The female activists from the Tibetan Women's Association (TWA) gathered in the north Indian hill town of Dharamshala on Thursday for the tour.

Tibetan women activists are going to Delhi on three bikes and the six-day journey started on Indian Children's Day and will end on November 20, World Children's Day.

These women activists will make the people aware of the 'alarming situation for Tibetan children and the environment in Tibet'.

"We are organising this appeal tour from Dharamshala to Delhi and it is a six-day tour. We are starting it today on Indian Children's Day and will end in Delhi on the 20th of November, on World Children's Day. We are appealing to all Indians to help us to stop colonial boarding schools in China," an activist told ANI.

Tenzin Yingsel, project officer of TWA said, "Today we have gathered here to start an appeal tour which starts today on November 14 which is Children's Day across India to November 20 which is celebrated as universal Children's Day to highlight the alarming situation for Tibetan children and environment of Tibet."

"Nuns and monks under the age of 14 are forcibly sent to Chinese government-run colonial boarding schools and even the Tibetan children under the age of four years are not spared, they are sent to these schools without their consent," Yingsel added.

Further, Yingsel highlighted the issue of Tibetan children being forced to learn Chinese Mandarin

Nearly now one million Tibetan children come under these government-run colonial boarding schools where they are only taught Chinese Mandarin and they are deprived of their primary language. When we talk about children we talk about Tibet's environment also. Tibet is the highest and the largest plateau of Asia and it's the roof of the world it is the origin of seven major rivers of Asia and the situation regarding the environment is a matter of great concern for all the downstream countries including India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan." Yingsel said.

"Due to the large number of damming and illegal mining, it is causing harm to ecological balance. So we are organizing this event to make the people aware of the situation, " Yingsel added. (ANI)