From black to white: An educational revolution

Teachers used to be in short supply too, and Sherab, 40, had to teach several different subjects to the students, in addition to his strong major, Tibetan language.

"In recent years, we've had more staff, so I can focus on my core subject and teach students of what I know the best," Sherab says.

When Geyang, 74, a retired teacher, tells of the days in the 1980s when he would be writing Tibetan verses on the blackboard to the accompaniment of the sound of students falling from their decrepit tools.

"The stools and desks in the school were so run-down that we always had carpenters fixing them," he says of the six-story building built at the end of the 1980s.

"When I was teaching in the school in the mid-80s the school had a few single-story houses as classrooms, and we only had just classrooms."

Geyang, who taught at the school for 15 years before retiring in 2000, says it had little in the way of modern conveniences, and firewood was used for cooking and heating.

The school used to have no hot water, but thanks to electric heating students can get hot drinking water anytime, and wash their hands with warm water in winter, Sherab says.

Geyang was paid 135 yuan ($20) a month when he worked for the school, he says; a typical monthly salary for a teacher now is 9,000 yuan.