Full Text: Successful Practice of Regional Ethnic Autonomy in Tibet (10)

- Progress has been made in all social undertakings.

Tibet's education has taken on a new look, and all children can now go to school. Nine-year compulsory education is practiced in all counties in the Region, and a complete modern education system is in place, covering preschool education, basic education, vocational education, higher education, adult education, and special education. Tibet has realized 15-year free education from the preschool stage to senior middle school, fully implemented the nutrition improvement plan for students under compulsory education in agricultural and pastoral areas, and realized 100 percent coverage in terms of both policies and funds. Tibet has covered all tuition, food, and boarding expenses for students from farmers' and herdsmen's families and those from families in urban areas with financial difficulties from preschool education to senior middle school education, and raised the subsidy standard many times to today's 3,000 yuan per student every year. Tibet has launched the campaign to provide three-year bilingual education for preschool children in urban areas, and two years for those in agricultural and pastoral areas. At the end of 2014, there were more than 80,000 children in kindergartens, and the gross enrollment rate for preschool education had reached 60 percent; there were six higher education institutions, nine secondary vocational schools with 17,000 students, 22 senior middle schools, four six-year middle schools, 93 junior middle schools, three nine-year education schools, three 12-year education schools, and 829 primary schools. The primary school enrollment rate reached 99.64 percent among school-age children, the illiteracy rate among young and middle-aged people fell to less than 0.57 percent, and the average length of education reached 8.6 years for the Region's general population and above 12 years for the newly-increased working population. Since the central government adopted the strategy in 1984 of "cultivating talent for Tibet in other parts of China," Tibetan schools and classes in 21 provinces and municipalities directly under the central government have cultivated more than 32,000 graduates from junior colleges and secondary technical schools for Tibet. Tibet has now cultivated its own postgraduate and Ph.D. students, built almost 30 scientific research institutions, compiled a group of renowned experts and scholars, and an army of 69,709 professionals in such areas as history, economics, demographics, languages, religion, agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, ecology, biology, Tibetan medicine, salt lakes, and geothermal and solar energy. Tibet tops China in areas such as Tibetan studies, plateau ecology, and Tibetan medicine, and boasts academic achievements of world influence.

Public cultural services now cover both urban and rural areas in Tibet, and have enriched people's cultural life. The Region has built eight public art centers, five public libraries, three museums, 74 county-level cultural activity centers, and 692 township-level cultural stations. In addition, it has built one regional center, seven prefecture-level sub-centers, 74 county-level sub-centers, 692 township-level stations, and 5,389 village-level stations as part of the project to share cultural information and resources. A cultural facility network covering the four levels of autonomous region, prefecture, county, and township is also taking shape. The cultural facility construction project as an important part of the 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) with a total input of nearly 1.3 billion yuan is making full progress. By the end of 2015, all prefectures and cities in Tibet will have public libraries and cultural centers, areas rich in cultural relics will have museums, all counties will have libraries, cultural centers or comprehensive cultural activity centers, all townships will have cultural stations, and 53 percent of the county-level state-owned art troupes will have rehearsal spaces. The total number of public cultural venues will reach 790. Tibet has built more than 1,600 cultural squares, and launched 90 regularly-staged popular cultural activities, including the Lhasa Shoton Festival celebrations. Tibet also initiated the campaign to provide free access to public facilities. In the recent five years, the Region's public cultural venues have launched more than 40,000 free mass cultural events, benefiting more than eight million people. The Region's professional art groups and folk art groups at the county level staged more than 10,000 shows, and sent more than 100,000 books to the countryside.

Tibet's press and publishing are growing fast, and more and more cultural products are appearing. Tibet People's Publishing House and Tibetan Ancient Books Publishing House published 19,052 book and textbook titles, totaling 282.63 million printed copies. In 2014, the Tibet Audio-Visual Publishing House and the Snowfield Electronic Audio-Visual Publishing House published 115 audio-visual and electronic book titles, totaling 379,600 copies. Tibet has 25 newspapers, 35 periodicals, and 576 publishing and distribution entities, among which 89 are Xinhua Bookstores at regional, prefectural and county levels, five are Xinhua Bookstores at frontier ports, and 482 are private distribution networks. In 2014, the autonomous region distributed 33.95 million copies of books, with a total value of 323 million yuan. The Region has 38 printing enterprises, one of which is a key enterprise with its turnover over 20 million yuan per annum. In 2014, the total output of the Region's printing industry reached 360 million yuan. The Region has built 5,609 rural libraries and 1,700 monastery libraries, bringing libraries to all administrative villages and monasteries, and providing all farmers, herdsmen, monks and nuns with access to books.

Tibet's radio, film and television undertakings have also made significant headway. The Region has built, rebuilt or expanded 78 FM stations above 100 w, 78 television transmitters above 50 w, 27 medium wave broadcast transmitters, one satellite earth station, and 9,371 radio and television stations for all villages. All 1,787 monasteries in the Region now have radio, film and television coverage. At present, Tibet has one provincial broadcast station with five frequencies, and its audiences are found in 50 countries and regions. It has one provincial TV station with four channels. Its programs, all digitized, cover more than 700 million people in China, and its satellite TV programs in Tibetan language can be viewed in neighboring Nepal, India, and Bhutan. Tibet has six prefectural-level radio stations, and one TV station. The coverage of radio in Tibet has increased from 12 percent in 1965 to today's 94.78 percent and that of television from zero in 1965 to today's 95.91 percent. More than 90 percent of farmer and herdsman families have access to radio and television. Through direct broadcast satellite receivers, each rural family can receive 40 to 70 digital radio and TV program channels. At present, Tibet has 566 film agencies, including 478 digitized film projection teams in the countryside. (mo