Tibetkids.org
School Project
		Banma Tibetan Primary School
		Banma is a remote town at the eastern part of Qinghai Province. It takes about 2 days travel by car from the nearest big cities namely Chengdu and Xining.                    The altitude of the village is 3200 meters above sea level. It is the plateau where both big rivers, Chang Jiang and Yellow River originated.
		The school was founded by a lama, GongQiao CaiRang  Rinpoche. The students come from the nearby nomad families and about 30 orphans from the monasteries. The government on 6 November 2002 approved the boarding school project.                             To further support this project, a site of 15,000 sq meters was granted by the government on 15 November 2002.
		An architect in Hong Kong contributed a Tibetan style school design in March 2003. The boarding school can accommodate a maximum of 144 students in 6 classes.                              The design also includes art room and music room. Classes will be conducted in Tibetan, the student's mother tongue. English and Chinese languages will also be taught. Construction must be started in April and completed in October, which is the only snow free period in the plateau.
		Fund raising is difficult. It is sad that people are more willing to spend money on war than education. Due to the lack of funds, GongQiao CaiRang Rinpoche decided to split the school construction into 2 phases. Only half of the school will be built in 2003. We hope to have sufficient funds to complete the other half next year.