The Dalai Lama’s efforts around education and literacy can be seen as a deliberate attempt to safeguard the Tibetan mind and spirit while equipping Tibetans for modern life. In exile, he has helped establish a comprehensive school system for refugee children, including Tibetan Children’s Villages and other Tibetan schools across India and abroad. These institutions provide not only basic schooling but also boarding, food, and healthcare, so that children from scattered settlements and nomadic backgrounds can study. Within this framework, he has consistently encouraged a curriculum that balances traditional Tibetan knowledge with modern subjects such as science, mathematics, and social studies. In parallel, he has supported higher education institutions that offer both Buddhist studies and contemporary academic disciplines, thereby creating a pathway from primary education to advanced scholarship.

A central thread in his educational vision is the preservation and cultivation of the Tibetan language. He has urged that Tibetan serve as the primary medium of instruction in early and middle schooling, so that literacy grows from the mother tongue and cultural identity remains strong. This emphasis extends to the teaching of Tibetan literature and history, as well as to the publication of textbooks and children’s literature in Tibetan. He has also supported large-scale translation and publication efforts, both to sustain a literate religious and philosophical culture and to encourage Tibetans to value their literary heritage. Through these measures, language becomes not merely a tool of communication but a vessel for memory, ethics, and worldview.

At the same time, his approach to education is not confined to ethnic or religious boundaries, but is framed in terms of universal human values. He has championed what he calls secular ethics in education, advocating curricula that cultivate compassion, emotional balance, and critical thinking without reliance on any particular religious doctrine. This orientation appears in his support for programs that integrate social, emotional, and ethical learning into school life, and in his frequent addresses to students and teachers about the moral purpose of education. In this way, literacy is understood not only as the ability to read and write, but as the capacity to live responsibly and with a sense of shared humanity.

The Dalai Lama has also paid close attention to who gets access to advanced learning and who is empowered to teach. He has encouraged the rebuilding of monastic universities in exile as rigorous centers of scholarship, and has supported the education of nuns, including their pursuit of the highest traditional degrees, thereby widening opportunities for Tibetan women. Teacher training programs have been promoted so that Tibetan educators can skillfully blend traditional knowledge with modern pedagogical methods. Scholarships and other forms of support have been made available through his trusts and related organizations, enabling Tibetan youth to pursue higher studies in a range of professional fields. Finally, he has used his global platform to advocate for the educational rights of Tibetans inside Tibet, especially the protection of Tibetan-language instruction and genuine bilingual education, thus linking the classroom to a broader struggle for cultural and intellectual self-determination.