Alinea is beginning a new project in Nepal and India, the “Enhancement of the Education and Resilience of Tibetan Youth (EERTY).” Funded by Global Affairs Canada, the five-year, CAD 5.4M project will contribute to building the capacity of the Tibetan education system in India and Nepal which includes 70 schools and a current enrollment of approximately 22,000 students. The project will be implemented by Alinea Canada, in cooperation with the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), and build on the achievements of the “Improving Education Quality and Learning for Tibetan Children Project (IEQL)” in India and Nepal (2015 to 2017, CAD 2M). In line with Canada’s new Feminist International Assistance Policy, EERTY will address the need to improve academic achievement through enhanced gender-responsive teaching practices that promote cultural and linguistic preservation and better prepare Tibetan youth for the transition to work and post-secondary education.

The project was first announced at the Tibetan Canadian Culture Center (Toronto), by MP Arif Virani on behalf of the government of Canada in the presence of Dr. Lobsang Sangay, President of the Central Tibetan Administration, Mr. Ngodup Tsering, representative of His Holiness for North America and members of the Tibetan community at the Parkdale Centre for Innovation. Mr. Virani is the MP for Parkdale-High Park and also the chair for Parliamentary Friends of Tibet (PFT) Canada friendship group.  Parkdale is home to the largest concentration of Tibetan refugees and immigrants outside of India, and this is Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay’s first official visit to Parkdale.

To see the official news release on the Central Tibetan Administration website, click here.