China: Uyghur language removed as medium of instruction in Xinjiang

The move has been initiated despite the region being home to a mostly Uyghur population and national laws guaranteeing minorities the right to a bilingual education.

Earlier this week, Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service received an audio recording made by a Uyghur man from the seat of Kelpin (in Chinese, Keping) county, in the XUAR’s Aksu (Akesu) prefecture, who currently lives elsewhere in China.

The county, which is located at the base of the Tian Shan mountains and on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert, is home to some 55,500 residents—around 97 percent of whom are Uyghur, reports Radio Free Asia.

In the recording, the man, who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal, makes a phone call to the Bureau of Education in his hometown and asks for information about how to place the children of his neighbors, who he claims are detained in an internment camp, in school, reports Radio Free Asia.

A man who identified himself as an employee of the Kelpin Bureau of Education told the caller that he could bring the two children, reportedly aged five and seven, to the bureau offices. When the caller asked to clarify which language the children would study in, the bureau employee said that education in Kelpin is conducted in the “national language,” or Mandarin Chinese, read the report.

It was asked whether it was possible for the children to study in Uyghur, when the employee said the national language was now the norm in Kelpin and that there are no minority languages used in classes anymore.

“The national language is the standard now,” he was quoted as saying by RFA.

RFA called the Kelpin County No. 1 Intermediate School to inquire whether any courses there are taught in the Uyghur language.

A Han employee who identified herself as the school principal answered, saying that there are no Uyghur administrators at the school. When asked whether other schools in Kelpin offer Uyghur-medium instruction, she referred further inquiries to the local propaganda department.

An administrator at the same school told RFA that schools in Kelpin no longer offer Uyghur language instruction, adding that not even teachers or other employees are permitted to use the Uyghur language when speaking to one another.

“Speaking Uyghur language is not allowed [on school grounds],” she was quoted as saying by RFA.

“Normally, it’s not even OK for us [staff] to speak to one another in Uyghur," she said.