China began patriotic education of Tibetan monks in 1996 and the education has been very successful, said Zheng Tui, Director of the Institute of Religious Studies under the China Tibetan Studies Center, in a press conference on March 26, 2008. Zheng stated, “to give monks this kind of education mainly is because of the long term interference from Dalai Lama with Tibetan’s construction. On one hand, it educates the monks. On the other, it helps resist the infiltration by handful foreign separatists into monks.” The patriotic education program not only improves the education level of monks but also increases their patriotic awareness, said Zheng. From his personal experience in the temples, he found such education “very successful.”
Source: Xinhua, March 26, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-03/26/content_7864207.htm