Authorities in Inner Mongolia are demanding that all classes in local elementary schools, with the exception of Mongolian, be taught in Chinese today, prompting local people to take to the streets in protest. According to the Human Rights Information Center of Southern Mongolia, students have been demonstrating in several schools against the authorities’ new policy, demanding that they continue to study in their native language. In the past few years, the government has been trying to improve the quality of life of the people in Mongolia.
According to Apple Daily today, Inner Mongolia is on high alert! Mass Student Protest, Mother Tongue Protection Movement Spreads. According to the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SMHRCIC), hundreds of Mongolian students in school uniforms chanted “Mongolians for our Mongolian culture” in front of the Mongolian Middle School in Naiman Banner, Tongliao City. At several Mongolian middle schools in the city, where demonstrations had broken out, hundreds of students broke through school gates and police barricades and left the school.
According to the center, at around 3 a.m. yesterday, hundreds of middle school students who had been locked in by the school for boarding, vandalized lockers where the school confiscated their cell phones, and contacted their parents. The local people said that the town of Lubei in Tongliao City was under curfew yesterday, and all vehicles were not allowed to enter or leave the area, and the whole town was blocked.
The first time I was in the city, I had to go to the hospital, and I had to go to the hospital, and I had to go to the doctor’s office. However, Kubis also said that although the authorities have tried every means to coerce parents to send their children to school, the Mongolians are now firm in their position and will not accept the Chinese program.
Almost all schools in Inner Mongolia are opposed to the authorities’ policy, fearing that the mother tongue will be lost and that all minority dialects will be lost if the authorities implement the policy for decades, a member of the Mongolian community from Xilin Gol League told AFP. According to an ethnic Mongolian from Xingan League, tens of thousands of Mongolians participated in demonstrations throughout the district, with parents protesting outside schools in addition to students, and ordinary citizens protesting in the streets.
According to Apple Daily, on the eve of the opening day of the school year, people from all over Inner Mongolia expressed their opposition to the new Communist government in different ways, including cab drivers from Xilin Gol League, who sang a traditional Mongolian song outside their cabs with the lyrics “As long as we have language, life and livestock, the border cannot separate us. Food delivery workers in Tongliao and Chifeng wrote the slogan “Save our mother tongue” on the delivery boxes and electric bicycles.
Mongolian deputies to the National People’s Congress from many local districts and counties have signed a petition asking the authorities to change their plans, claiming that the authorities are violating the Constitution, disrupting inter-ethnic harmony, and creating division in the country. Independent Mongolian government organizations have expressed concern about the situation of their Mongolian counterparts in Inner Mongolia, and have asked the authorities to use diplomatic channels to pressure the authorities in Beijing.
According to the report, former Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia made a short film asking the Beijing authorities to respect the rights of Mongolians to use their mother tongue and asking Mongolians across the country to support their Mongolian counterparts in Inner Mongolia to protect their mother tongue and culture.
Recent Comments