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Located deep in the heartland of Kham, Chungba was, until a few short years ago, a typical rural Tibetan community. With no electricity, running water, telephone, internal roads and virtually no literacy, this mountain community was unequipped to manage the rapid changes arriving at its door. Today, an investment in a primary school has stimulated a broad-based effort to revitalize the community while setting a new standard for rural Tibetan education across the prefecture.

The Chungba School Story

Since it first opened its doors in 2002, the Ruth Walter Chungba Primary School has challenged regional stereotypes about the potential of rural Tibetan children. In its first year of operation, the students of Chungba achieved the highest results on county-wide standardized exams, despite being the first generation in Chungba ever to have access to formal education. Surprised by the results, county officials ran a second round of standardized exams for the Chungba school. And the tests results were even higher.

Today, with a residential community of 340 students and staff, the Chungba Primary School has become a model for rural education throughout the eighteen counties of the Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture - a region of nearly a million Tibetans. New resources and creative programming have played a role in the success of the CPS projects that include an annual Chungba Summer Learning Program, a traditional Tibetan dance program, a library, an organic greenhouse and other green technologies to promote conservation and environmental consciousness. Watch an introductory video clip of the CPS. The Chungba Summer Learning Program in particular has offered the Chungba kids an array of resources to expand their knowledge of their world and to learn about new forms of knowledge production. These include learning about both traditional knowledge, such as Tibetan storytelling, as well as the use of new digital media.

A Community Based Approach

Some of the innovative practices we have introduced at the Chungba Primary School can be measured, such as regular parent-teacher meetings, reserving 50% enrollment for girls, instituting daily evening tutorials and extra half-day class time on Saturday mornings.

But others, such as the trust between teachers and students, cannot. The hard work and strong motivation of our teaching staff have played an important role in the success of the school. We have built in rewards and incentives such as regular monthly teacher salary supplements, as well as opportunities for further training and skills development. But perhaps more importantly, our teachers possess a sense of pride in their work, knowing that their efforts matter and that they are connected to a broader community of people, both regional and global, who care about the achievements of these rural children.

Above all, the success of the school has been built around the trust of the parents themselves--subsistence farmers and semi-nomadic herders who hope for a brighter future for their communities. With the commitment we have shown to local traditions, cultural continuity and Tibetan language use, the parents of the Chungba kids trust that this school is about the strength and sustainability of their own communities and about the renewal and revitalization of their local values.

As change continues to press upon them from all sides, we will continue work in tandem with both parents and teachers alike as we build a strategy for Tibetan rural education that places the community at its very heart.

See the Chungba School in action! These images of the Chungba Primary School from 2004-5 were edited by Tsering Perlo , documentarian and founder of Rabsal, an association of young Tibetans dedicated to the revitalization of Tibetan culture.