diff --git a/src/alignrl/dpo.py b/src/alignrl/dpo.py
index 779b631..79a6766 100644
--- a/src/alignrl/dpo.py
+++ b/src/alignrl/dpo.py
@@ -134,3 +134,4 @@ def load(self, path: Path) -> None:
             max_seq_length=self.config.max_seq_length,
             load_in_4bit=self.config.load_in_4bit,
         )
+        ensure_chat_template(self._tokenizer)
diff --git a/src/alignrl/grpo.py b/src/alignrl/grpo.py
index 3eaf7da..738e110 100644
--- a/src/alignrl/grpo.py
+++ b/src/alignrl/grpo.py
@@ -173,3 +173,4 @@ def load(self, path: Path) -> None:
             max_seq_length=self.config.max_seq_length,
             load_in_4bit=self.config.load_in_4bit,
         )
+        ensure_chat_template(self._tokenizer)
diff --git a/src/alignrl/sft.py b/src/alignrl/sft.py
index 8e1f003..045ef89 100644
--- a/src/alignrl/sft.py
+++ b/src/alignrl/sft.py
@@ -141,3 +141,4 @@ def load(self, path: Path) -> None:
             max_seq_length=self.config.max_seq_length,
             load_in_4bit=self.config.load_in_4bit,
         )
+        ensure_chat_template(self._tokenizer)