Dharamshala: The Department of Religion and Culture (CTA), in collaboration with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA), commenced a year-long Lo-Tsa-Wa Training Programme this morning with a brief inaugural ceremony at the auditorium of the LTWA. This initiative of training for translators is being held from 1 October 2025 to 30 November 2026 as part of the celebration of Ghoton, honouring His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama’s 90th birth year.

Geshe Lhakdor, Director of the LTWA, and Secretary Dhondul Dorjee, Department of Religion and Culture attended the opening ceremony as its chief guests while Tenzin Tsepak, the personal interpreter/translator of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Ngawang Yeshi, the General Secretary at LTWA, attended as the special guests.

Addressing the gathering, Secretary Dhondul Dorjee highlighted the challenges faced by Tibetans in Tibet, noting that young Tibetans are compelled to attend Chinese state-run boarding schools and systematically limiting their opportunities to learn their own language and culture. In face of such hinderance to preservation and promotion of unique Tibetan heritages, he stressed the participants to make best used of this training.

Following that, Geshe Lhakdor expressed his appreciation for the Department of Religion and Culture’s efforts in organising the training, while stating that such training must have organised long back. He recalled that translator training was initially launched in October 1963 under the astute instruction from His Holiness the Dalai Lama but was discontinued thereafter. Geshe Lhakdor remarked that reinstating such programmes at educational centres would greatly benefit Tibetan society by nurturing a new generation of self-sufficient translators.

While many monks have deep knowledge of vast Tibetan Buddhist texts, few can provide standard English translations. To address this critical gap—and with many current translators aging and at risk of retiring—this programme aims to cultivate a new generation of translators within the monasteries.

Eleven monks from various monasteries are participating in this programme. Invitations with quotas were extended to monks from the four major Tibetan Buddhist schools, as well as the Yungdrung Bon and Jonang monasteries.