A phone call from his mother relieved 18-year-old Dainzin Kaiqog from worry about his family in Lhasa where rioters torched the city and killed 18 innocent people on March 14.

He is studying at a Tibetan middle school in Beijing together with 800 other Tibetan children.

"Mom called me after the incident. She told me not to worry about them and they were confident that the government was capable of taking care of the situation," Dainzin Kaiqog told Xinhua Sunday.

Degyi Lhamo, Dainzin Kaiqog's classmate, filled her eyes with tears when recalling the TV footage on the unrest in Lhasa.

"I don't want to see chaos. I only pray for peace and safety in my hometown, for every one to be free of worry," she said.

The Beijing Tibetan Middle School, founded in 1987, has had 3,478 graduates and about 1,500 of them went to college and back to work in Tibet.

Since 1984, schools or classes for Tibetan students have been established in 26 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The administrations free these children of tuition fees and cover their expenses on food, clothes and medical care.

"My parents had never expected me to go to school," said Cering Toinzhub, a Beijing Tibetan Middle School student from a farmer's family in Xigaze of Tibet, "But now I have not only been in high school but also in the capital."

Last summer when back home for vacation, he found notable progress had taken place in his hometown thanks to the operation of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which links the highland with the rest of the country, Cering Toinzhub said.

"I was sad about the turmoil in Lhasa," he said. "All the victims are innocent people. Those mobsters do not stand for Tibetan people."

Soidain teaches the Tibetan language in the Beijing Tibetan Middle School. He said, "A peaceful Lhasa is cherished by Tibetan people. The Dalai clique broke it intentionally and in an organized manner. I can't accept this. They stood against the people."

The plateau city has returned to normal with the joint efforts of the government and residents. By Friday, 70 percent of Lhasa's markets and shops were back in operation.

Desang Lhamo, another student whose family lives in Lhasa, was glad to learn that her parents were safe and the city was back on track. "We should make up for the damage as soon as possible."

(Xinhua News Agency, March 23, 2008)