China: Xinjiang’s universities force new push in ‘political education’

Asia/China/26 de Agosto de 2016/Fuente: Asia Times

RESUMEN: Universidades de la región de Xinjiang, noroeste de China han comenzado un nuevo impulso para fortalecer la lealtad hacia la facultad de Pekín, con instructores obligados a escribir artículos que promueven la «unidad étnica» y alabando iniciativas del gobernante Partido Comunista de China, dijeron las fuentes. El movimiento a partir del 15 de agosto ha introducido una serie de nuevas demandas y ha acortado el tiempo disponible para instructores por las vacaciones de verano, así lo expresó  al Servicio de RFAl un maestro en el sur de mayoría musulmana de Xinjiang Uigur. «Este año las vacaciones de verano se truncó, y los estudios políticos ya han comenzado», dijo la fuente de la RFA, que habló bajo condición de anonimato.«Estamos escribiendo y estudiando los documentos que expresan su apoyo al llamado [Chino] presidente Xi Jinping, de la ideología occidental para evitar la entrada de las escuelas, junto con varias otras directivas enviadas por el Ministerio de Educación.» «Esta es nuestra situación actual, y será el mismo en el día del maestro, 10 de septiembre, cuando por lo general tienen un día libre».

Universities in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region have begun a new push to strengthen faculty loyalty to Beijing, with instructors forced to write papers promoting “ethnic unity” and praising initiatives of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, sources said.

The move beginning Aug. 15 has introduced a range of new demands and has shortened the time available to instructors for summer break, one teacher in Xinjiang’s mostly Muslim south told RFA’s Uyghur Service.

“This year our summer break was cut short, and political studies have already begun,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We are writing and studying papers expressing support for [Chinese] president Xi Jinping’s call to prevent Western ideology from entering the schools, along with various other directives sent out by the Education Ministry.”

“This is our present situation, and it will be the same on Teachers’ Day, Sept. 10, when we usually get a day off,” he said.

“Our own course of political studies began on Aug. 15,” another teacher said, speaking from Xinjiang’s regional capital Urumqi.

“We are learning how to curb our students’ inclinations toward religion, stamp out religious extremism, and promote ethnic unity [between Uyghurs and Han Chinese],” he said.

Calls seeking comment from several Xinjiang universities rang unanswered, but one Xinjiang teacher told RFA that faculty had been warned against speaking in interviews or taking phone calls from abroad.

In an Aug. 11 posting, however, the website of southwestern Xinjiang’s Kashgar University boasted “increased political education and ethnic unity education” as school achievements in a quote by university president Erkin Omer, speaking to Han students visiting from China’s Jilin province.

Obstacles to advancement

Strict political requirements have, meanwhile, created obstacles for teachers seeking advancement on the basis of academic accomplishments alone, one Xinjiang instructor told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“These have made it difficult for me to get a professor’s title, or even an associate professorship, so I had to give this up,” he said.

“Because some of my students were found praying, I was disqualified twice,” he said.

“Many teachers have left their posts, and some have gone abroad. I might apply for early retirement as well because of the stress over politics.”

Faced with growing assertions of Uyghur national identity in Xinjiang, China regularly conducts “strike hard” campaigns in the group’s traditional homeland, including police raids on Uyghur households, restrictions on Islamic practices, and curbs on the Uyghur people’s culture and language.

But experts outside China say that Beijing has exaggerated the threat from Uyghur “separatists” and that Chinese domestic policies are largely responsible for instability in the region.

Fuente: http://atimes.com/2016/08/xinjiangs-universities-force-new-push-in-political-education/