China’s ethnic-cultural cleansing continues as schools in Inner Mongolia told to switch to Mandarin
Officials in Inner Mongolia, a region in northern China, have ordered all schools to switch to Mandarin-medium teaching and eliminate Mongolian language classes by September, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The action is a continuation of a policy that in August 2020 caused significant unrest across the region when the regional education bureau ordered all schools to implement “teaching in our national Mandarin language” and to guarantee that high-school students are proficient in the language, even if they speak Mongolian at home.
Regional officials stated at a meeting in late March that schools must “build Chinese national consciousness and community, and deepen education in national unity,” according to RFA.
Some rights advocates have cautioned that “national unity” initiatives have prompted forced intermarriage between majority Han Chinese and Uyghurs and Tibetans, as well as other measures to obliterate ethnic identity and autonomy.
The Southern Mongolia Human Rights and Information Center in New York uploaded an audio clip of school administrators at Hohhot No. 30 High School advising parents that they must “firmly inculcate a common, Chinese national identity” among the region’s six million ethnic Mongolians, reported RFA.
The official is heard saying, according to RFA, “Under a directive from the central government, all Mongolian schools across the region will use Mandarin as the language of instruction starting Sept. 1 this year.”
Beginning in 2025, all ethnic Mongolian students will be forced to take college admission examinations in Chinese rather than Mongolian.
“The Chinese policy of total erasure of the Mongolian language in [Inner] Mongolia has been well planned and systematic,” the Southern Mongolia Human Rights and Information Center said, as reported by RFA.
With inputs from agencies
