Scholarships for Tibetan Children

NEW. In March, 2006 the Chinese government enacted a set of new reforms in its rural education system. Most important among these: tuition and other fees have been slashed for the compulsory grades 1-9 (primary thru junior middle school. School headmasters who illegally charge extra fees are being actively pursued by the government and prosecuted.

Kham Aid Education Program Director Kara Jenkinson and President Pamela Logan visited schools in March, 2006 and verified that the reforms are indeed being carried out in Kham. Beginning with the spring semester of 2006, tuition fees have dropped and they may drop further in the fall. For this reason we are no longer accepting sponsors for junior middle school students - school fees are now too low to support the administrative expense of arranging individual sponsor-child relationships. Read the information below to find out what we're doing to meeting Kham's new education needs.

To give Tibetan children what they need NOW, Kham Aid Foundation is operating the following education programs:

Scholarships for Senior Middle School and Vocational School (Grades 10-12). These grades are completely unaffected by the recent reforms yet are extremely important for children wishing to enter decent-paying jobs or matriculate at a university. Tibetan children - especially girls - very much need help and therefore we welcome sponsors for these grades. The cost is $600/year for three years. More information is below.

Greenhouses for Primary Schools (Grades 1-6). Primary schools enrollment is rapidly expanding, and government subsidies aren't keeping up with food and board costs for all of the new students who are arriving at school from remote areas. The most serious problem is food: schoolchildren rarely see meat or fresh vegetables in their diet, as these items are too expensive in local markets for schools to afford. Kham Aid's solution: our school greenhouse program. Kham Aid provides the greenhouse, teachers and children provide the labor. One greenhouse lasts ten years and will feed over a thousand children in its lifetime.

Community Education Initiative. This program tailors assistance to the needs of a specific village, helping every child in that village.

To donate to these latter two programs, go to our donation page.

Sponsored girls at Batang Senior Middle School, with Kara Jenkinson (center), former program director.

Our Scholarship Program

History

Kham Aid Foundation inaugurated its scholarship program in 1999 when a grant was found to sponsor twelve young boys and girls in the Weidi Primary School of Yajiang County. The following year we were asked by the Women's Federation of Ganzi Prefecture to help one hundred girls who wanted to attend junior middle school but whose families could not afford it. That same year, the Litang Middle School also made a request to us to help their boys and girls. At the request of the Women's Federation we also found a sponsor for an orphan girl in Kangding county.

The program has grown dramatically in the years since its inception. From 12 children in 1999, we grew to 57 in 2001, and now 285 in academic year 2005-2006 (and that doesn’t count the children who have left the program by graduating from school!)

Current Status

See this table to find out where our sponsored students were located as of April 24, 2006 and the availability of scholarships in different levels of school.

More information