The Southern Mongolia Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) on December 22, 2017, reported that the Bayangol No.3 High School, the last school to provide instruction in the Mongolian language in the Bayangol Prefecture of China’s “Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region” was banned from using Mongolian earlier this week. The first post from Mongolian parents of the affected area appeared on the Chinese social media WeChat on December 18, 2017,and said “Today, Mongolian language instruction in all schools across Bayangol Prefecture is put to an end. We are demanding a just solution from the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Eight Provinces and Autonomous Regions Mongolian Language Work Association.” According to an official document entitled “Notice Regarding the Issuance of the ‘Autonomous Region’s Proposal on Bilingual Education Curriculum Deployment at Compulsory Education Level’” [xin jiao ji (2017) No.10] issued by the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Education Department, starting September 1, 2017, “all courses offered in elementary and middle/high schools must use the national common language and written system as the language of instruction, and additionally offer the ethnic language as a course.” The news sparked widespread outrage among Mongolians across Southern (Inner) Mongolia. Posts of protest by Mongolian students, teachers, writers, and even ordinary herders have gone viral on the few available social media outlets in China including WeChat, Weibo, and Bainuu. A widely circulated article entitled “Bayangol Prefecture of Xinjiang Bans Mongolian Language Instruction Entirely, Southern Mongolians Shocked, Outraged and Concerned” was removed from all WeChat groups and any other sources in China.
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