Ellen Liu
China Tibet Online
February 03, 2015
Feb.3,2015–A commitment was signed between the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region and those of its prefectures and cities on Jan. 27 to ensure that all orphans can enter children’s welfare centers according to their own will, China News reports.
In 2014, the Tibet Department of Civil Affairs approved seven projects to improve the welfare of children and invested 36.768 billion yuan (5.66 billion U.S. dollars) toward that end. Two of the projects are currently underway.
Deputy-general of the Tibet Department of Civil Affairs Kelzang Rinchen, said an orphan adoption system will be established in 2015 with fully trained managers to oversee the children’s welfare institutions.
According to China Minzu Newspaper，there are over 5,000 orphans in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
A campaign to raise funds from cadres of government organs，enterprises and public institutions has also been launched. A donation of more than 3,000 yuan each year was made. All of the funds were spent on building children’s welfare centers and for special education.
During China’s 12th Five-year Plan period(2011-2015),Tibet will build or relocate seven prefecture-level and 52 county-level children’s welfare centers across the region. In addition, children under 18 years old,the disabled or those without legal guardians will also be covered or offered opportunities to receive special education, according to China Minzu Newspaper.
A Fund Management Committee has also been established to oversee funding to the centers. The Tibet Civil Affairs Department will submit a report each year to the Committee for approval regarding how it plans on allocating the funds, which will be based on the orphans’ needs. Meanwhile, the department also invites the media to supervise how funds are spent.
