Having witnessed the pro-Tibet protests that have marked the Olympic torch's journey around the globe, former Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa decided the west needed to be reminded of how life in Tibet had improved.
Last week he noted gains made in the past five decades, including the fact that more than 90 per cent of children now had access to primary education, compared with the 1950s when the figure was 'only 2 to 3 per cent'.
While Tibet has experienced a rapid rise in the number of children receiving primary school education, Gerard Postiglione, a professor at the University of Hong Kong's education faculty who delivered a seminar on the subject this week, said actual attendance rates were much lower in some places and drop-out rates for secondary schools had risen.
'The fact of the matter is, although enrolment rates have increased pretty rapidly, there are still pretty serious problems,' he said.
Professor Postiglione has made about 20 visits to Tibet and Tibetan-populated areas of the mainland over the past 13 years in a variety of roles, from educational researcher to working with organisations including the UN Development Programme, the Asian Development Bank, the Hong Kong Save the Children Foundation and a committee working on US-China relations.
In Wednesday's seminar, Professor Postiglione shared the insights he has gained from his many years of research, some of which has been conducted as part of a Hong Kong Research Council grant.