A significant number of children continue to leave Tibet, often without their parents. They come to India to get an education, with some of them returning to Tibet afterwards.
Fifteen girls from the north Indian refugee communities of Bir and Chauntra receive $150 scholarships from CBB. Some of this funding goes for a girl's school uniform and supplies, while the remainder pays the fees of the school she is attending.
Refugee children are educated in Tibetan schools, separate from the Indian school system. They study in the Tibetan language through the fifth grade, and afterwards in English. Since the Tibetan language is not taught in Tibet under the Chinese administration, the refugee communities have become the sole means for preserving the Tibetan language and the culture that goes with it. At home, Tibetan remains the spoken language.
