The year marks the 20th anniversary of the Central Government decision to run Tibet middle schools in the hinterland. At present, there are such schools or Tibetan classes in 26 provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government. They work to train technical personnel and teachers for Tibet. Launched in 1987, the Beijing Tibet Middle School has since trained more than 2,800 middle and high school students for Tibet. Many of them returned to Tibet for construction.