During its process of construction, combat and development, the Artillery Officer College (hereafter the School) has always been imbued with Uncle Ho’s instructions on patriotic emulation, and actively stepped up the Determination to Win Emulation Movement. This serves as an important solution and incentive to encourage each collective and individual to strive to accomplish the task, thereby contributing to building a regular, advanced, exemplary School.

To meet the requirements set by Homeland construction and defence in the new situation, the Ministry of National Defence and the Artillery Corps have assigned the Artillery Officer College to build a regular, advanced and exemplary School. This is an honour and great responsibility for the School’s cadres, instructors, cadets and staff members. To fulfil the assigned task, the School’s Party Committee and Board have taken various measures with emphasis placed on implementing the Determination to Win Emulation Movement (the Movement for short).

The signing of the emulation covenant for the 2018-2019 school-year

Imbued with Uncle Ho’s teachings: “emulation is patriotism, patriots must emulate”, and grasping higher echelons’ resolutions and directives, particularly the Central Military Commission’s Directive 507-CT/QUTW, dated July 28^th 2014, on “Continued reform in the emulation and reward work within the Vietnam People’s Army”, the School has adopted proper, creative measures to bring the Movement to a new height. Party committees and commands at all levels have paid attention to closely directing the emulation movements towards grass-roots units. Importance has been attached to conducting the work of propagation and education to build up cadres and troops’ incentive for emulation. Councils for emulation – reward at all levels have been regularly consolidated and operated in an orderly, effective manner. The system of regulations on marking and assessing emulation has been supplemented and completed. At the same time, the role of political offices and cadres in counseling party committees, commands, and councils for emulation – reward to develop plans for and inspect emulation, and select contents and breakthroughs of emulation has been promoted. To achieve the diffuse effectiveness of the emulation movements, the School has adhered to the topics and targets set by the Movement of the Military and the Corps and concretized them into criteria for emulation in accordance with the characteristics and task of each office, faculty and unit. Although the targets and measures of the emulation movements in offices and units are different, they all focus on building an advanced, regular, exemplary School, meeting the requirements of education and training in the new situation. In addition, the School Board has demanded that units well carry out the work of registering emulation titles, signing emulation covenants, assessing and marking emulation; renew content, form and method of emulation, with a focus on improving the education and training quality and building a healthy pedagogic culture environment.

The School has combined the Movement with the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, lifestyle, and the implementation of the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum on the Party building and rectification, the Campaign “promote tradition, devote talent, deserve to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, the movement “Say no to negative phenomena in exams and achievement disease in education” and many other emulation movements with various typical models. At the same time, due attention has been paid to setting up and multiplying typical examples, closely combining emulation with reward, opportunely detecting, honouring, encouraging and commending new elements, groups and persons with outstanding achievements in performing the task. To enhance the effectiveness of the movements, the School has maintained the order for inspection, review, lesson drawing, while actively fighting against “a flash in the pan”, formalism, self-satisfaction, unwholesome rivalry for achievements. Thanks to sound orientation and proper, creative measures for leadership, direction and implementation, the Movement has gained positive results and really acted as an important measures and incentive to successfully carry out all missions and build a regular, advanced, exemplary School.

The Movement has encouraged all groups and persons to overcome difficulties for self-improvement. Studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as conducting the work of Party building and rectification under the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 4^th Plenum, party committees and organizations at all levels, particularly at grass-roots level have been consolidated while their leadership and combativeness have been considerably improved. On a yearly basis, over 85% of the School’s party members successfully fulfil the task while over 50% of its party cells and committees are rated pure and strong. There have been many reforms in units’ political, ideological, legal education, thus opportunely orientating cadres and troops’ ideology, making a big change in cadres, party members and the masses’ ideology, ethics and lifestyle. All cadres and troops have political steadfastness, strong determination, being ready to undertake and accomplish all assigned task. Via various forms and measures of emulation, units have succeeded in building comprehensively strong units and safe units and areas. Besides, the Movement has contributed to encouraging the democratic atmosphere and heightened a sense of discipline and regularity building. The grass-roots level democratic regulations have been strictly maintained; all cadres, party members and the masses have promoted their right to mastery as well as their rights “to know, to discuss, and to inspect” all operations of their units according to their responsibility.

To meet the increasingly higher requirements of education and training, the emulation movements have encouraged cadres, instructors and cadets to renew and improve the quality of education and training. The School has focused emulation activities on implementing the 11^th Party Central Committees’ Resolution 29-NQ/TW on fundamental, comprehensive reform in education and training to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the conditions of socialist-oriented market economy and international integration, the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 765-NQ/QUTW, the Corps Party Committee’s Resolution 395-NQ/ĐU and the School Party Committee’s Resolution 28-NQ/ĐU on improving the quality of education and training during 2013-2020 period and beyond. Significance has been attached to improving pedagogic standards and skills to employ modern teaching-learning means and new teaching methods; to following the mottos: “basics, system, unity, specialization” and “theory must be associated with practice”. Emulation movements for good teaching, learning and serving have been carried out both widely and deeply with specific standards, diverse methods, and creative, effective models and approaches. Typical examples include: “5 building-s, 5 fighting-s”, “good training, strict discipline, building regular, green, clean, scenic School”, “self-control learning hour”, “exemplary learning hour”, “English club”, which have encouraged the self-improvement of instructors, managerial cadres and cadets, and contributed to enhancing the quality of teaching and learning.

The artillery technical competition

Moreover, the movement to promote technical initiatives and innovations has developed widely and actively contributed to the School’s task performance. Its cadres, instructors and cadets have been active in the fields of research, technology and environment (including military art science, specialized military science, social sciences and humanities, and technical science). Over the past 5 years, the School has studied and compiled 3,251 research topics, initiatives, textbooks, documents, specialized topics, including 103 Ministry-level initiatives, textbooks and documents, and 14 Corps-level research topics, all of which have been rated good and excellent, applied to training, and contributed to improving the quality of education and training.

Due regard has been paid to regularity building and discipline management as a basic point in emulation movements. The School has encouraged all forces to actively take part in this work. As a result, a huge change in troops’ observance of the State’s law and the Military discipline has been created while the regularity order and level have been maintained and raised. At the same time, the School has opportunely discovered and prevented violations of law and discipline and social evils, while resolutely combating the signs of oversimplification, arbitrariness, achievement disease, and dishonest, inopportune report.

Through the Movement, units have mobilized a large number of cadres, instructors, cadets, staff members in performing the logistics and financial work to improve troops’ working and living condition; in building increasingly modern, clean, scenic, civilized barracks. Following President Ho Chi Minh’s teachings, offices, faculties and units have enhanced the practice of thrift, fought against wastefulness in all operations, thereby improving the efficiency of budget use, supplementing funds for units’ operations, contributing to creating the synergy for the School’s successful fulfilment of all missions.

The achievements gained by the Artillery Officer College have always been attributed to the effective implementation of the Determination to Win Emulation Movement. After 5 years of implementing the Movement, 225 collectives and 2,080 individuals were rewarded; the School was given the “Flag of Excellent Emulation” by the Ministry of National Defence and the Artillery Corps. In 2016, the School was presented the Second-Class Fatherland Protection Order by the State. This has provided an important prerequisite for the School to bring the Movement to a new height and encourage its cadres, instructors, cadets, and staff members to strive to successfully fulfil the task of education and training in the new period.

Sr. Col. Pham Van Tuan, PhD Head of the School’s Political Department