TIBETAN child monks are being consigned to history in China as parents' modern views and education reform mean that more children are being sent to public schools.

Monasteries, once the traditional and principal places of learning, play a lesser educational role in an increasingly modern society, while their function of religious teaching is preserved.

A number of senior monks see benefits in the shifts, since young monks - who now must be at least 18 to be ordained - are better educated, more open-minded and dedicated.

"It is customary for Tibetans to send children to monasteries. Now, most hope to send them to schools to better their future prospects," says herder Mu Monlam in Marqu County of Gansu Province's Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

This trend is largely driven by increasing access to affordable modern education and policies affecting monasteries' recruitment. In 1985, the Tibet Autonomous Region adopted free full-time boarding schools for China's nine years of compulsory education between primary and junior high school. Education fees are no longer a problem for cash-strapped Tibetan parents, especially in farming areas.

In March, Tibetan kindergartens and senior high schools also became free.

The opening up of education has received praise.

A 2008 survey by the Beijing-based Minzu University of China in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Golog in Qinghai Province showed 95 percent of responding herders said they would "very much like" or "like" to send their children to public schools. Parents aged between 20 and 50 particularly objected to monastic education only, according to the survey.

Zhao Wujiu, Party secretary of the Tibetan Middle School of Marqu County, says Tibetans made a U-turn in attitudes toward education. "In less than 10 years, enrollment in my school has risen from 400 to 1,844. When we call a meeting, no parents are absent. But in the past, few attended."

Phuntsog Dorje, a lama and member of the management committee of Samye Monastery in Tibet, attributes disappearing monastery education to the rapid growth of public schools.

"Sixty years ago, when there were no modern schools in Tibet, monasteries were the only places parents could turn to for education," he says.

Age threshold

While schools have become more accessible, monasteries have become less open to youngsters. Under the Management Method of Tibetan Monasteries promulgated by the State Administration for Religious Affairs and implemented in late 2010, Buddhism institutes can only be opened in fixed locations, which must have a tradition of Buddhist study, qualified scripture teachers and a legitimate source of capital. In general, students should not be ordained before the age of 18.

As a result, monasteries are no longer able to ordain school-age children, though exceptions can be made for recognized reincarnations of the living Buddha.

The stipulations conform to China's Law of Compulsory Education, clarifying that nine-year compulsory schooling is a "public undertaking" provided by the government. It applies to all school-age Chinese children, of whatever nationality, race and religion.

These regulations represent a de facto age threshold for monastery education, but few Tibetan clergy interviewed expressed concern about the decreased size of the "Sangha" or Buddhist clergy. While numbers have decreased, their quality in education, maturity and dedication has increased, they observe.

"Since the 1990s, no newcomers to our monastery are illiterate. Compared with those who had never been to school before, these students are quicker learners and often get better grades in Buddhist study," says Phuntsog Dorje of Samye Monastery, Tibet's oldest institute of Buddhist studies.

For him, age restrictions ensure that students don't rush into being ordained and have mature judgment.

"At the age of 18, one is old enough to independently make a serious decision. Growing up in a monastery is no guarantee that one won't be tempted to resume secular life, since studying and practicing Buddhism centers around the heart, not the external environment," says the senior Buddhist.

As for the Buddhist concept of a predestined monastic bond, "If someone was meant to be a Buddhist monk, however far he might have gone, he would be brought back anyway," irrespective of age, says lama Tudong Tarqin, a management official of Namah Monastery in Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province.

He says monks with compulsory education are "more open-minded, more effective in study and more skillful in communicating with laymen."

Strict screening

Even after age 18, candidates must pass strict screening before becoming monks. According to Phuntsog Dorje in Tibet's Samye Monastery, for instance, they must have parental permission and the endorsement of local religious authorities. Then comes a year and a half of observation by senior monks to see if they can live by the strict precepts for a Mahayana Buddhist. Only after passing scrutiny can they be ordained and begin formal study for six to seven years.

More than 140 students have graduated from Samye's program, some pursuing higher study and others tapped to be assistant teachers or abbots elsewhere. Around 70 monks began training last spring.

Namah Monastery's Tudong Tarqin calls screening even more significant for adults. "If they take monastic life as an escape from family feuds, frustrating jobs or depression, or are just cynical about the world, we have to say 'sorry.' To be a Mahayana Buddhist, one should be altruistic," he says.

Deficiencies

Public school-educated boys who become ordained monks have a head-start on those who receive only monastic education, a fact increasingly recognized by senior Buddhists.

Sonam Wangchug, a graduate of the Buddhist Study Institute of Tibet's Samye Monastery, is the deputy in charge of the management committee of Drathang Monastery in Tibet's Shannan Prefecture.

"If we read scripture only, know nothing about science and technology, and treat Buddhist doctrines and earthly life as two different things, we won't be able to explain profound concepts in simple language to laymen or ease their troubles," he says.

He says traditional monastery education should be expanded to include at least Mandarin, English and basic computer skills.

He has hired college students on summer breaks to teach monks how to use computers. All commonly used scriptures, previously passed on orally, have been digitally preserved.

The forward-thinking monastery manager says: "A Tibetan monk of the 21st century should have the confidence to embrace modern science and technology, because they will not only facilitate social development but also uphold Buddhism. I hope to go to a secular college. The most important thing for clergy is not to be isolated from society."