The Department of Defence and Security Education (hereafter the Department) is a strategic staff office under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET). Its staff members are seconded officers from the Ministry of National Defence (MND) and the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) tasked with advising the Minister of Education and Training on the state management of defence and security education work for students. Over the past 60 years of construction and development, under the leadership and direction of the Party, Government, and particularly the MoET, with the collaboration and support of Central ministries and sectors and localities as well as the efforts by generations of its staff, the Department has always successfully fulfilled the assigned task. During the war against the U.S., for national salvation, the Department organized the force, stayed close to the reality, and advised the MoET on implementing the Party and Government’s policy on defence education for students, and making it a compulsory subject in the national education system, thereby contributing to building up students’ willpower, determination and patriotism and encouraging millions of students to voluntarily take part in the cause of national liberation and reunification.

In the period of national construction and protection, particularly in more than 30 years of national reform, the Department has actively cooperated with relevant offices in counselling the MoET and the Government to issue legal documents on defence and security education for students, creating the important legal corridor for the implementation nationwide. To meet the new requirements for the enhanced defence and Homeland protection, it has actively studied theory, reviewed practice, and developed scientific bases to counsel the planning and building of the system of centres, faculties and departments of defence and security education in each region and universities and colleges nationwide. At the same time, it has built, gradually consolidated and standardized a pool of teachers of defence and security education at all levels, counselled and proposed the standardization and modernization of content, curriculum, teaching equipment and aids in accordance with the requirements set by defence and security education work in the new situation, thereby step by step putting this work in order. Annually, millions of students are provided with knowledge of defence and security. As a result, they have been equipped with basic knowledge and skills in military and defence terms to be ready to join in the cause of national construction and protection. With the outstanding achievements, the Department has been presented 2 Third-Class Fatherland Protection Orders by the State President and many other noble awards.

The 2nd Nationwide High School Students’ Competition of Defence and Security Education held in 2017

The Homeland construction and protection task now has advantages and opportunities and face difficulties and challenges. Hostile forces are stepping up their sabotage against our revolution via the “peaceful evolution” strategy and artifices of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” in all fields, the centrepiece of which is to induce and incite young people to relinquish the revolutionary ideal and goal set by our Party and people. Thus, more than ever before, greater importance should be attached to providing defence and security education for students via proper measures in order to further promote the role of this core human resource in the task of Homeland protection.

To do so, in the upcoming time, the Department continues to thoroughly grasp resolutions and directives by the Party and State on defence and security education work, particularly the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution 29-NQ/TW on fundamental, comprehensive reform in education and training. Besides, it gives advice to the MoET on cooperating with relevant ministries and sectors in supplementing and completing the system of legal documents on defence and security education and especially well implementing the Law on Defence and Security Education. In the short term, the Department counsels the MoET to enhance the work of propagation and education among managerial cadres, teachers, and students to render them fully aware of the position, role and importance of defence and security education. It focuses on studying and proposing the promulgation of regulations and mechanisms for coordination in providing defence and security education for all students and plugging the “loophole” in private, international schools, continuing education centres as well as among former overseas students. At the same time, it proposes the measures to promote the effectiveness of inspection and supervision to make universities and colleges strictly comply with regulations on defence and security education under the Joint Circular 123/2015/TTLT-BQP-BGDĐT BLĐTBXH, dated November 5^th 2015, by the MND, the MoET, and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs.

Over the past years, the work of training and building a contingent of teachers of defence and security education has been carried out effectively and contributed to gradually standardizing this staff and improving the quality of defence and security education. However, there have remained weaknesses in training and using teachers of defence and security education, such as the quality and quantity of enrolments in training courses for teachers of defence and security education, recruitment and use of graduates and quality of the contingent of teachers. Against this backdrop, the Department continues to counsel the MoET to supplement and complete the standards for teachers of defence and security education; to direct provincial-level education and training departments and universities to step up the work of propagation and vocational training and improve the quality of enrolments in training courses for teachers of defence and security education; to build a corps of full-time teachers and adopt proper recruitment policy. Great value is attached to using teachers properly, particularly seconded officers in educational institutions to enhance the quality of graduates and ensure that they are qualified enough to become reserve officers. At the same time, all preparations should be made to open postgraduate courses on defence and security education, providing the basis for improving and standardizing the contingent of teachers of defence and security education.

For the sake of fundamental and comprehensive reform in education and training under the spirit of the Resolution 29-NQ/TW, the Department continues to renew content and program of defence and security education in accordance with the requirements of Homeland protection. Currently, the content and program of defence and security education basically meet the required targets. However, several theoretical issues have yet to keep pace with the development of the defence and security guidelines and the country’s condition while military skills have yet to satisfy the condition of a war to defend the Homeland in the future. Thus, to meet the requirements for training high-quality human resources to serve the Military when necessary, the Department advises the MoET to cooperate with relevant ministries and sectors in renewing content and curriculum on a “basic, intensive, modern, practical” basis and providing opportunities for students to get access to military fields in accordance with their majors in order to raise their awareness and build up their living skills. At the same time, students should be updated on new issues related to defence and security tasks, particularly the Party’s new viewpoints in the context of globalization and international integration. To that end, the Department proposes that the training courses intended for high school students must be equivalent to the training courses for new soldiers while the training courses intended for vocational schools must be equivalent to the training courses for squad leaders. Moreover, college students will be provided with training courses for reservist officers in accordance with their majors. More specifically, students majoring in social sciences and humanities will focus on the party and political work; those majoring in natural sciences will concentrate on service and corps training; those majoring in physical training will be trained on reconnaissance and special task. To provide more bases for the guideline mentioned above, the Department has been active in the national-level study “modern, effective models of defence and security education for Vietnamese students”.

Over the past years, in spite of economic difficulties, the Party and the State have paid due attention to investing in defence and security education for all people in general, for students in particular. Up to now, the system of defence and security education centres, faculties and departments within universities have been provided with rather modern facilities and equipment. However, the progress of the investment is still low while the equipment has yet to keep pace with the annual increase in the number of students. In the upcoming time, the Department will counsel the MoET to complete the procedure to submit to the Government for the continued investment in building centres under the Prime Minister’s Decision 161/QĐ-TTg, dated January 30^th 2015. At the same time, it will actively mobilize social resources to upgrade and modernize the system of special classrooms and teaching aids. In the short term, it will encourage resources to well implement the Circular 01/2018/TT-BGDĐT, dated January 26^th 2018, by the MoET on issuing the list of compulsory teaching equipment for defence and security education in primary, secondary, and high schools, vocational schools, pedagogic colleges, and universities.

Besides, the Department will advise the MoET on recommending the Government to work out the road map for remission of tuition fees for defence and security education, cooperating with the MND and the MPS in ensuring weapons and equipment and evaluating the training results, thereby providing the basis for improving the quality of defence and security education for students, meeting the requirements for national construction and protection.

Maj. Gen., Dr, People’s Teacher Nguyen Thien Minh

Head of the Department of Defence and Security Education, MoET