Source : Tibet.net

Dharamshala: The Department of Information and International Relations (DIIR), Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) organised a month-long Umaylam (Middle Way Approach) awareness program for class XI students of Upper T.C.V School and T.C.V Gopalpur School from 13 September to 20 October 2022. This awareness program was a weekly-based program over the course of a month with the main purpose to provide deeper knowledge and better understanding on the Middle Way Approach. The program was a mix of a series of talk by DIIR Additional Secretary Tenzin Lekshay and a brief training session by Tibet Advocacy Section Head Dukthen Kyi and staff members Tenzin Palmo, Tenzin Kunkhen and Rinchen.

Middle Way Approach Awareness Program at Upper T.C.V School

On 13 September, Additional Secretary (DIIR) cum CTA’s spokesperson Tenzin Lekshay gave a talk to Upper TCV School’s Class XI ‘A’ and Class XI ‘B’ separately on “Historically Tibet was never part of China” and discussed on the topic. He explained how and why Tibet was never part of China to the students and answered questions raised by students. A total of 87 students took part in the first session that concluded with giving a task to students to read the next chapter to be discussed in the following week.

On 20 September, Tenzin Lekshay continued the Umaylam Awareness session with the students and discussed “Nature and Evolution of the Middle Way Approach”. He explained more details about Umaylam and it was an interactive session as many students asked questions.

On 27 September, the discussion was on the “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People” with students. Additional Secretary Tenzin Lekshay explained details of each point of the memorandum and encouraged the students to read the memorandum again to clear and deeper knowledge.

On 4 October, the Additional Secretary continued the fourth session and discussed on the “Note on the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy” with students. He answered questions asked by students. At the end of the session, he reminded students that you all are future seeds of Tibet and to focus more on study. He also mentioned the importance of reading and requested students to read more since it is important to know about the CTA Policy.

The month-long Approach Awareness Program concluded on 15 October with a short workshop to the students conducted in two groups. Tibet Advocacy Section Head Dukthen Kyi and staff Tenzin Kunkhen facilitated the workshop to the class XI ‘A’ students consisting of 45 students while TAS staff Tenzin Palmo and Rinchen facilitated a workshop to the class XI ‘B’ consisting of 44 students. The students took active participation throughout the session. The sessions were followed by a question-and-answer session, concluded with a brief feedback session. During the feedback session, some students said, this kind of workshop is very helpful to have better understanding on the subject as it is more of an active and interactive based workshop and also requested to have more workshops like this.

Middle Way Approach Awareness Program at T.C.V Gopalpur School

On 21 September 2022, DIIR Additional secretary Tenzin Lekshay spoke on how “Historically Tibet was never part of China ” to students of Class XI ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and Class XI ‘D’ separately. He explained how and why Tibet was never part of China to the students and answered questions raised by students. A total of 113 students took part in the program.

On 23 September, the spokesperson continued taking a second session to discussed the “Nature and Evolution of the Middle Way Approach”. He explained more details about Umaylam and it was an interactive session as many students asked questions.

On 15 October, the third session covered the topic “Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People” where Tenzin Lekshay explained details on each point of the memorandum and told the students to read the memorandum again to clear and deeper knowledge.

The fourth session on 18 October discussed the “Note on the Memorandum on Genuine Autonomy ” with students. He answered questions asked by students. At the end of the session he reminded students that you all are future seeds of Tibet and to focus more on study. He also mentioned the importance of reading and requested students to read more. At last, he hoped that students had learned about the Umaylam since it is important to know about the CTA Policy.

The Middle Way Approach Awareness Program concluded yesterday on 20 October, with a short half-day activity-based workshop session facilitated by DIIR’s TAS staff. Workshop for the group consisting of 57 students from class XI ‘A’ and XI ‘C’ was facilitated by Dukthen Kyi and Tenzin Kunkhen, while the other group consisting of 56 students from XI ‘B’ and XI ‘D’ was facilitated by Tenzin Palmo and Rinchen. The students expressed increased information and interest on Umaylam and raised many questions.