The Coast Guard Professional Training Centre (PTC) under the Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard (VCG) is tasked with training technical employees at primary level, improving the professional knowledge of officers within the VCG, and performing other missions assigned by higher echelons. Since 2018, the PTC has been offered many new tasks with the increasingly demanding requirements; particularly, it has been tasked with improving VCG staff members’ professional knowledge for the defence of national sovereignty and law enforcement at sea. Meanwhile, the PTC’s cadres and instructors’ experience in education and training varies considerably; facilities and equipment for the training work are not sufficient. To fulfil the assigned task, the PTC’s Party Committee and Board have focused their leadership and direction on raising the quality of political education as a routine, central mission. It is understandable that political education plays a role of special importance to developing and perfecting cadres, instructors, cadets, employees, and soldiers’ personality, political zeal, revolutionary morality, working method, and capacity as well as preventing and fighting against the degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle and the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst them to ensure that they will always undertake and successfully fulfil all missions. Besides, political education will contribute to boosting the quality of education and training, building a typically strong, pure PTC, making the PTC Party Organisation “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong. To that end, the PTC has adopted measures synchronously, with a focus on the following.

The PTC has promoted the role of its political office and all-level party committees and commands in political education. Emphasis has been placed on grasping and executing the Directive 23-CT/TW, dated February 9^th, 2018 by the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Secretariat on “continuing to raise the quality of studying, applying, and developing Marxism-Leninism,” the Directive 124-CT/QUTW, dated March 31^st, 2011 by the Central Military Commission Standing Board on “strengthening leadership and direction over political education at military units in the new period,” and the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period” by the Ministry of National Defence. Moreover, the PTC’s Party Committee and Board have required party committees and commands to be fully aware of the importance of political education and put the improvement in this work at the forefront of their leadership. Therefore, yearly and regular resolutions of party organisations and work plans of commanders at all levels have included specific measures and targets for political education in accordance with offices and units’ particularities. Due attention has been paid to encouraging the core role of the political office in giving instructions on implementing the plan of political education in a close, uniform, practical, effective manner. Great value has been attached to enhancing the work of inspection and supervision to opportunely bring into play strong points and handle weaknesses and difficulties in political education. Doing so has enabled the PTC to promote the responsibility and role of all organisations and forces in this work.  

Head of the PTC inspecting political lectures

Proactively developing education programmes for each group of learners has been seen as an important measure to improve the effectiveness of political education. There is a fact that the PTC has different groups of troops, its cadets are mainly technical employees with specialised fields of study of the VCG, and it is assigned to improve officers’ knowledge of navigation and law. Therefore, the PTC has formulated different training programmes for all groups of learners. In addition to the topics set by the General Department of Politics and the VCG Command, grounded on the task requirements and reality, the PTC has proactively developed education programmes with a balance of general knowledge in order to build up learners’ political zeal, morality, lifestyle, observance of the State’s law and the Military’s discipline, cultural and social knowledge, and life skills. Great importance has been attached to educating troops on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, the Military’s discipline, and the task of the Military and the VCG. At the same time, the PTC has included the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle as well as the moral standards of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers - VCG soldiers” in political education. It has also devised a programme on the basic issues relating to the building of the Party, the Youth Union, and the Women’s Union for members of those organisations. It has designed video clips about the tradition of the Military, the VCG, and the PTC to complement political lecturers. Besides, it has educated its staff members on the fight against the hostile forces’ wrong viewpoints and conspiracy to “depoliticise” our Military as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. Great value has been attached to orientating troops’ ideology, closely combining “building” with “fighting,” and forming revolutionary, progressive ideology and humanism amongst staff members as the basis for defending the Party’s ideological foundation in the new situation.

The PTC has actively renewed and flexibly, creatively employed various forms and methods of teaching and examination. Renewing and diversifying forms and methods of political education will make the contents of this work more persuasive and attractive to cadres, instructors, cadets, employees, and soldiers. Based on 6 basic forms of political education stipulated in the Statutes on Political Education, the PTC’s Party Committee and Board have directed offices and units to proactively research and grasp groups of troops to flexibly, creatively adopt forms and methods of teaching properly. In each political lecture, due regard has been paid to closely combining modern and traditional methods, encouraging the sharing of experience, aligning education with self-education, and bringing into play learners’ proactiveness and creativity. Instead of the traditional one-way teaching method, the PTC has required its cadres and instructors in charge of political education to make presentations, clarify central issues, and increase interaction between themselves and learners, with a view to dealing with issues in lectures together and enabling learners to apply the knowledge acquired from political education to reality in accordance with their task. Significance has been attached to using all methods and available means of teaching and applying information technology and slide projectors to make lectures more attractive, easy to understand, and easy to remember. Political and ideological activities, such as the Political, Cultural and Spiritual Day and the Legal Study Day have been regularly renewed to attract the participation of troops. Also, the PTC has effectively maintained models of learning, such as “studying one article of law on a daily basis,” “one law-related situation on a weekly basis,” and “Uncle Ho’s teachings on this day.”

Furthermore, the PTC has closely combined political education with the Determination to Win Emulation Movement and others, particularly the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers” in the new period. Annually, units within the PTC all take the results of political education as an important yardstick for evaluation of cadres, party members and the masses as well as for the work of emulation and commendation. To make political education more effective, the PTC has enhanced cultural and artistic activities, knowledge contests, forums, and dialogues with relevant topics. Consideration has been given to stepping up legal education, propagation and dissemination, taking measures for discipline management and the military standard order building, and strictly implementing the Regulations on Democracy at grass-roots level. The PTC has proactively anticipated and opportunely settled ideological issues, while cooperating with localities and families to grasp and manage troops’ ideology. At the same time, due regard has been paid to ensuring troops’ mental and material life to create the synergy for raising the quality of political education.

The PTC has proactively renewed forms and methods of examination to substantively assess offices and units’ political education and troops’ political knowledge. It has adopted written, oral, and multiple-choice tests. More specifically, officers, professional service men and women, and defence employees are tasked with written assignments, non-commissioned officers and soldiers take multiple-choice tests, and cadets do oral tests. In the process, such tests have been organised in a serious, close, procedural, objective, accurate fashion without any sign of “merit-driven disease” across offices and units. Since 2018, staff members of the PTC have all passed political tests, about 87% of them have earned merit, and nearly 17% of them have achieved distinction.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the PTC has actively overcome difficulties and proactively made investment in facilities, equipment, and technical means for political education. Great importance has been attached to applying scientific and technological advances to education and training and promoting the role of cultural institutions in political education for troops. Besides, emphasis has been placed on organising conferences to draw lessons, multiply typical examples and effective models, and handle weaknesses in political education.

Bringing into play those good results, in the foreseeable future, the PTC’s Party Committee and Board will keep focusing their leadership and direction on improving the quality and effectiveness of political education as the basis for fulfilling the task of education and training, building a typically strong, pure PTC Party Organisation and a “typically, exemplarily” comprehensively strong Centre as well as contributing to the building of a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern, highly professional VCG.

Sr. Col. NGUYEN DUC DO, MA

Commissar of the PTC