By China correspondent Stephen McDonell
Protests are spreading through Tibetan areas following plans to make local students study in Mandarin.
The students have been told that classes in their mother tongue will be cut back and they must start studying in Mandarin.
Government officials say this will make it easier for them to get jobs, but many Tibetans say it will water down their culture.
On Tuesday, at least 1,000 Tibetan students marched through Tongren in Qinghai Province.
On Wednesday, about 2,000 students from Chabcha Country, in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, took to the streets.
Now, another round of protests in Qinghai has prompted authorities to stop middle school students from leaving their schools to join the growing demonstrations.
There are also reports that ethnic Tibetan university students from Beijing's Minzu Daxue have staged their own demonstration.
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