Political cadres constitute a component of the Military and the Party, in which, political commissars and junior political commissars are in charge of political matters, take accountability to his superiors and their own committees for the Party and political work in their unit. When alive, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized that: “Political commissars are very influential to the soldiers. Good political commissars will make good soldiers. Bad political commissars will make bad soldiers”. Therefore, improving the quality of training political cadres at all levels in the Military is a very important issue.

Accepting the Ministry-level project of "Improving the quality of unit-level political cadres"

Facing with the requirement of building a politically strong Military, serving as a basis for improving the overall quality, combat strength, absolute loyalty to the Fatherland, the Party, the State and the People, meeting the requirements of the mission in all situations, it is required that political cadres, especially commissars and junior  commissars - who are in charge of the Party and  political work must have strong political zeal and pure revolutionary ethics; maintain and promote the revolutionary nature, the quality of "Uncle Ho's Soldiers", have comprehensive knowledge, good implementation capacity, scientific thinking, and really be exemplary at their agencies and units. This has posed high requirements on the education and training of political cadres; especially, for Military schools - which directly educate political cadres for the entire Military. Therefore, the Military schools should strictly grasp the content and requirements of building a politically strong Military; continue to thoroughly implement the military education and training strategy in order to improve the quality of training political cadres at all levels in accordance with the Politburo's Resolution No 51-NQ/TW. The training and retraining should be regularly renewed in terms of content and programs to ensure synchronization, practicality, efficiency, meeting both immediate and long-term requirements. The training objectives must be based on the responsibilities and duties of the political commissars and junior political commissars to make sure that they have good political and military science knowledge; are really typical for political qualities, competencies, morals, lifestyles, methods, manners, working style; and are truly the core of unity in their unit. During implementation, it is necessary to synchronize solutions, apply flexibly the forms, and closely combine basic training with retraining, partial cumulative training, training at school and at the unit to ensure that they are really "both red and expert". To achieve the above objectives, military schools should focus the following solutions:

Firstly, actively renew the content, programs, forms and methods of training political cadres at all levels. Firmly grasp the direction of building the Military revolutionary, regular, highly skilled, and increasingly modern with priority being given to the modernization of a number of services and corps, creating a solid foundation for building the Military modern since the year 2030, while thoroughly grasping and strictly implementing the Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW, dated May 19, 2018 of the 7^th Central Conference (7^th tenure) on "Focusing on building cadres at all levels, especially at strategic levels, with required quality, competence and prestige, on par with the mission”, directly the Resolution No. 109-NQ/QUTW, dated February 11, 2019 of the Central Military Commission on the construction of the Military officers, especially at operational and strategic levels to meet the requirements of missions in the new situation and requirements of Military building, especially the requirement of "Improving the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the Party and political work in the Military and the People's Public Security, meeting the requirements of building people's armed forces politically strong, acting as the core in the cause of national defense and security and Fatherland protection in the new situation”. According to the goals of education and training at all levels and types of training, Military schools should stick to the contents and requirements of building a strong Military in politics to enhance theoretical knowledge of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party's lines and views, Party and political work, etc., ensuring essential learning, creative and skillful application, of the equipped knowledge into working practice. In particular, focus on overcoming the duplication of contents and training programs between educational levels; well settle the relationship between inheritance and development, ensuring that they have theoretical qualifications and in-depth knowledge of Party building, State administration, Party and political work, and military knowledge. At the same time, fully aware of the responsibility, authority and working relationship; exemplary and pioneering in every action, being worthy of a political cadre. For the next education level, it is necessary to review and remove duplicate contents; change to thematic topics to deepen the theoretical issues and update new information, helping learners compare theory with practice, so as to both reinforcing basic theoretical knowledge and improving the ability and skills to handle real situations, especially the task of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against wrong and hostile views of political opportunities, and preventing "peaceful evolution", "self-evolution", "self-transformation" internally, and "Military depoliticisation" schemes. The contents and programs of education and training must closely follow the roles and responsibilities of the political officers; associate the fostering capacity with standardizing knowledge, developing thinking, improving the qualifications in all aspects so that political cadres, commissars and junior commissars can develop to higher levels. The process of education and training must adhere to the motto of "basic, systematic, unified, specialized", "schools are associated with battlefields and units"; closely combine theoretical fostering with sharing experience and methods of conducting the Party and political work in different missions, environments and situations. In addition, it is necessary to increase the time for practice, internship, extracurricular activities; review and complete the topics of group discussion; renovate and improve the quality of school drills and internships at the unit.

Currently, in the entire Military, there is a great number of military-originated political cadres, who are trained in different institutions hence the training programs may be different from that of the Political Academy and Political College. Therefore, schools should review and classify to build appropriate contents and training programs. Due to different characteristics and nature of the missions, the different types of units have different requirements, contents, and measures for conducting the Party and political work. Therefore, in the training program of training political officers, commissars and junior commissars, in addition to the amount of general knowledge, there need to have particular contents to meet specific requirements of learners when they are back to their work in units; associate the innovation of programs and contents with the innovation of training forms and methods in the direction of enhancing learners' initiative, activeness, exploration and creativity. At the same time, apply active teaching methods; promote the spirit of initiative, self-awareness and self-research of learners, turning the training process into a self-training process.

Second, focus on building and promoting the role of the lecturers and educational administrators. In order to meet the requirement of the number of lecturers, academies and officer training schools should thoroughly grasp and strictly implement Decision No. 89/QD-TTg, dated January 18, 2019 of the Prime Minister approving the Project of "Enhancing the capacity of lecturers and administrators of higher educational institutions to meet the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive renewal in education and training in the period of 2019 - 2030” to build comprehensive, strategic and long-term solutions. Focus on implementing the tasks and solutions of the Project in order to build a contingent of lecturers and educational administrators with required quality and reasonable structure to meet the requirements and tasks of education and training. Schools should strictly adhere to the new table of organization; continue to foster the existing contingent of teachers and educational administrators. At the same time, select learners at military schools who have comprehensive knowledge and pedagogical skill to train them to be political lecturers; provide favourable treatment to attract capable and enthusiastic civilians to become lecturers at Military schools. To improve the qualifications of lecturers and educational administrators, Military schools should actively hold training courses, joint training courses to foster IT skills and foreign languages according to the Directive. 105/CT-BQP, dated May 26, 2020 of the Minister of National Defense, on enhancing the learning of foreign languages and ethnic minority languages in the entire Military to meet the task requirements in the new situation; Plan No. 184/KH-BQP, dated May 27, 2020 of the Ministry of National Defense, on the implementation of the National Program on learning Foreign Language for cadres, civil servants and public employees for the period of 2019 - 2030 in the Military. Improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of examining, inspecting, attending lectures and teaching contests; promote the role of the authorities and the contingent of management officials at all levels in improving the quality of lecturers. Lecturers and educational administrators should actively study, practice, and promote scientific research to constantly improve their knowledge of social sciences and humanities, especially military social sciences and humanities, pedagogical levels and methods and their qualities as a role model of political cadres, commissars and junior commissars.

Third, have smooth coordination between schools and units in the training of political cadres at all levels. Schools, agencies and units in the whole Military need to thoroughly grasp the motto: "Learning together with practicing, theory associated with reality, schools associated with units" to unify the perception that the education and training of political cadres, commissars and junior commissars at all levels are not only the tasks and functions of the schools but also the responsibility of the party organizations, commanders and political agencies in the entire Military. Therefore, the Military schools should actively build plans, and contact the units and report to the Ministry of National Defense to send teachers and education administrators to the grassroots units to accumulate practical experience for their teaching and managerial work. The faculties of teachers should send their cadres to survey and grasp the quality of political cadres, commissars and junior commissars in the units who have been trained at their schools in terms of their capacity to carry out the Party and political work in missions, especially the missions of: combat readiness to protect sovereignty of borders, islands, prevention and control of natural disasters, disasters, epidemics, etc., and in resolving relationships between political cadres with military cadres and soldiers, especially with commanders in the spirit of the Politburo's Resolution No. 51-NQ/TW. On that basis, closely link the unit with the training institution, and promptly add practical knowledge and experience to renew the training programs, contents and methods accordingly. Military schools should have plans to regularly invite staff with working experience in agencies, units and localities to exchange experiences in the Party and political work during training, drills, combat readiness and their experience in grasping and managing ideological situations so that administrators, teachers, and students accumulate and supplement additional programs, contents, educational methods of training political cadres, commissars, junior commissars which are suitable and relevant to reality.

Fourth, actively promote scientific research activities, and closely combine with the task of education and training. In face of the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Military schools need to promote scientific research, closely combine basic research with applied research, and focus on clarifying opinions, new ideas in the resolutions of the Party and the Central Military Commission, practical issues, especially the practice of the Party and political work in military and national defence tasks, and the task of building the Military in politics. In implementation, schools need to strictly comply with Directive No. 855-CT/QUTW, dated August 12, 2019 of the Standing Committee of the Central Military Commission on promoting the implementation of the Drive of Promoting tradition, dedicating talent, deserving to be "Uncle Ho's Soldiers" in the new period; continue to research and apply creatively Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the Party's lines and viewpoints; give priority to key scientific topics with theoretical and practical values. Improve the quality of seminars, discussions, scientific information, academic exchanges, provide suitable textbooks and learning materials for lecturers and students in accordance with the requirements of new situation; promote the spirit in scientific research of officer cadets in order to help them foster their own methods, apply theory and knowledge, and skills in conducting the Party andpolitical work in the settlement of problems arising in practice. This is one of the stages and steps of the training, aiming at fostering skills, improving the quality of training political cadres at all levels, meeting requirements and responsibilities after graduation.

Continuing to implement the Education and Training Strategy in the Military is a regular task, basic content, ensuring that political cadres are always "close like a sister, righteous as a brother, understanding as a friend” as taught by President Ho Chi Minh; really the core in conducting the Party and political work, contributing to making this work always the "soul and lifeline" of the Military.

Senior Lieutenant General NGUYEN TRONG NGHIA

Member of the Party Central Committee, member of the Central Military Commission, Vice Chief  of the General Political Department, VPA