Turkistan Times, May 19 2025 — The Center for Uyghur Studies has released a powerful new report titled “Breaking the Roots: China’s Use of Boarding Schools as a Tool of Genocide Against Uyghur Muslims”, highlighting a deeply troubling yet underreported aspect of China’s campaign against the Uyghur people: the widespread use of state-run boarding schools in East Turkistan ((AKA Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region).

The report presents compelling evidence that these schools are not centers for education and development, but instruments of forced assimilation. Uyghur children, some as young as primary school age, are being systematically separated from their families and communities, placed into government-run facilities where their language, culture, and faith are actively suppressed.

For generations, the Uyghur people have preserved a unique cultural and ethnic identity. Yet, under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), this identity is under existential threat — not only through mass surveillance and internment camps, but increasingly through the institutionalization of boarding schools designed to indoctrinate Uyghur children from a young age.

The report explores several critical areas:

• Policy Origins: Tracing the ideological roots of China’s assimilationist policies, particularly how post-9/11 “counter-terrorism” narratives have been manipulated to justify oppressive measures.

• Implementation of Boarding Schools: Detailing how Uyghur children are forcibly removed from their homes and placed in state facilities — often with no contact with their families.

• Educational Indoctrination: Describing a system where the Uyghur language is prohibited, familial ties are discouraged or demonized, and loyalty to the state is heavily emphasized.

• Eyewitness Testimonies: Featuring first-hand accounts from former students and families affected by this system, shedding light on the deep psychological and cultural scars left by such policies.

Unlike standard boarding school models, Uyghur parents frequently have no access to their children — especially when parents are themselves detained in internment camps. The result is a generation of Uyghur children being raised by the state, stripped of their native language, heritage, and religious beliefs.

Experts and international legal scholars have increasingly recognized these practices as a form of cultural genocide — a deliberate attempt to destroy the identity of an ethnic group by targeting its youngest and most impressionable members.

Abdulhakim Idris, Executive Director of the Center for Uyghur Studies, stated:

“What is happening to Uyghur children in these so-called ‘boarding schools’ is not education — it is forced assimilation, cultural erasure, and psychological trauma. By severing children from their families, language, and identity, the Chinese government is committing a grave injustice that meets the definition of genocide. The international community cannot remain silent in the face of this systematic destruction of an entire people’s future.”

The report concludes with a strong call to action, urging governments, international organizations, and civil society to take meaningful steps to hold China accountable, protect Uyghur children, and prevent further cultural destruction.

The full report is available for download.