Registration Form for Tibetan Cultural School (Click here to download)
Tibetan Culture School, an educational program of Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota was founded in 1997 by its members. The mission of this Culture School is to assist MN Tibetan children to learn their Language, History, Religion and Cultural Heritage and instill in them basic values of compassion, humility, respect and nationalism. One of the TAFM board members, the Chair of Education Committee, is entrusted with the responsibility to ensure smooth functioning of the school and other educational programs. The program coordinator, a staff of TAFM runs the Tibetan Culture School with the help of dedicated and committed staff members.
TCS New Student Admission Announcement 2023/24
This is to inform to all concerned parents that the admission for new students for this academic session is open from now onwards and the last date will be June 30th 2023. Registration form (linked above) needs to be submitted to TAFM office.
Objectives:
- Read, write and comprehend the Tibetan text at the grade level
- Speak Tibetan with fluency
- Understand and become knowledgeable about basic Tibetan history, religion, and cultural practices as contained in the textbooks
- Become competent in Tibetan performing arts
- Develop and demonstrate unique Tibetan cultural values like compassion, humility, and respect.
School Year and Days:
- The school year consists of 10 months: September (first Saturday) to June (last Saturday) of the following year. Month of July and August is left for summer break.
- School operates for 4 hours every Saturday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
- School year is divided into two semesters. First Semester starts on the first Saturday in September and ends on the last Saturday in February. Second Semester runs from first Saturday March until last Saturday in June.
Enrollment conditions:
Currently there are 160 students enrolled in the school for the school year 2022-23. Families who want to enroll their child/children should meet the following conditions:
- Child must be 5 years old as of August 31st of the calendar year or older.
- Child’s parent(s) must be TAFM member/s in good standing.
- Child’s parent(s) must be DhanglangChatrelDebchung (Tibetan Green Book) holder/s.
- Non-TAFM members will pay a monthly fee of $ 60/- per child instead of $30.
Enrollment Date:
- Applications for the following school year are accepted from January 1st to June 30th with an enrollment fee of $10.00 per child.
- Late application will also be accepted only if there will be any available seats with late fee of $25 per child from July 1st to August 31st.
- No applications will be accepted for the coming school year after August 31st deadline.
- Families that have moved/immigrated to Minnesota recently can enroll their child/children anytime during the school year.
Curriculum:
Syllabus for each grade level consists of the textbooks (adapted version) prescribed by Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration in Exile, Dharamsala. Supplementary reading materials collected from other sources including Tibetan Children’s Village, Dharamsala are also used.
Classes and staffing for 2022-23
TCS has grade KG to 8 and this year, there are 12 classes. A team of 12 Tibetan language teachers teach these classes. Class assignment and teacher contact information is as follows:
Parent’s involvement and community support are the backbone of this program. To further increase parent involvement and support, a Parent sub-Committee has been instituted. The Parents subcommittee members are elected by the parents for a two-year term.
The responsibilities of Parents committee include but not limited to:
- Organize fundraising events
- Collect fees and give receipts to the parents
- Help during mid-year and year-end events
- Help parents sign up for volunteer work
- Organize year-end TCS Families Picnic
- Help program coordinator with any other school related work
Questions may be directed to:
TAFM Office @651-917-9556
Tenzin Lhamo, Education Chair – education@tafm.org