Pastoralism and Rangeland Management on the Tibetan Plateau in ...

3.3 Culture <strong>and</strong> education changes
Living for thous<strong>and</strong>s of years on the Tibetan Plateau, the Tibetans have developed
their own distinctive <strong>and</strong> diverse culture through their underst<strong>and</strong>ing of,
<strong>and</strong> adaptation to, nature, communicating <strong>and</strong> fusing with other cultures from
neighbouring ethnic groups. Tibetan culture can be determined mainly by its
language, philosophy, religion, medicine, astronomy, music <strong>and</strong> dance, drama
<strong>and</strong> folk performing arts, architecture, sculpture <strong>and</strong> painting <strong>and</strong> crafts. Such
an abundant culture provides a spiritual pillar for the daily life of Tibetans.
Since the 1980s, the state has been providing over 1.2 billion YUAN <strong>and</strong> a large
quantity of gold <strong>and</strong> silver to Tibet to support Tibetan Buddhism, through the
preservation <strong>and</strong> repairing of monasteries, cultural relics <strong>and</strong> sites of historical
significance, <strong>and</strong> also through the development of diverse publications. Today,
over 1,700 religious venues accommodate more than 46,000 monks <strong>and</strong> nuns
in Tibet.
Before 1951, the ordinary labourers of Tibetan were robbed of any educational
opportunities. Between 1952 <strong>and</strong> 2007, the state invested 22.562 billion Yuan
in Tibet for educational development. The majority, 62 %, of this investment
was made between 2002 <strong>and</strong> 2007 to improve the educational infrastructure,
including old educational organizations <strong>and</strong> building new schools <strong>and</strong> institutes.
At same time, other inl<strong>and</strong> provinces <strong>and</strong> cities also donated financial,
material <strong>and</strong> physical assistance to support the education sector in Tibet. Since
1985, a policy of compulsory education with free-tuition, together with free
food <strong>and</strong> boarding for students coming from agricultural <strong>and</strong> pastoral families
through the 6th has been carried out. In 2007, this policy was extended to
cover the entire TAR. Thus, allowing Tibet to be the first location in China to
benefit from free, compulsory education. Given top-priority consideration by
the central government, the enrolment rate of school-aged children has risen
from 2 % previously to 98.2 % currently, while up to 91 % are enrolled in junior
high schools (Figure 3). Thus, the illiteracy rate has fallen to 4.76 % nowadays,
compared to 95 % before.
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