Political education is a fundamental component of the ideological and cultural work and a central part of military training, playing a decisive role in consolidating the Party’s ideological base within the military. Therefore, reforming and enhancing the quality of political education is a matter of urgency to politically strengthening the military, meeting the exigencies of Homeland protection in the new situation.
On July 23rd, 2013, the Minister of National Defense issued Decision 2677/QĐ-BQP to approve Project “Reforming political education in military units in the new situation”. The Project is the concretization of the Party and State’s lines on politically strengthening the military, which lays a foundation for developing the military’s combat power in order to meet the exigencies of Homeland protection in the new situation. The Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defense and the General Department of Politics have attached much importance to their leadership and direction in the process of implementing the Project. The Steering Committee on the Project has proactively demonstrated firm leadership as evidenced by timely proposals and guidelines close to reality, particularly the issuance of Regulations on political education within the Vietnam People’s Army and the Vietnamese militia and self-defense force. Within the military, Party committees, political commissars, commanders, departments of political affairs and cadres specializing in political affairs have been fully aware of the importance of the Project as well as have promoted their sense of responsibility for leadership and direction over making plans to implement the Project and introducing measures that match their units’ specific circumstances for enhancing the quality of political education.
 |
| Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Trong Nghia visits an exhibition of political education topics and products (photo: Minh Son) |
Staying close to the requirements of military build-up and the task of Homeland protection in the new situation, the political education curriculum has been designed on a balanced basis. Accordingly, it is up to military units to provide the content for 20% of the duration of the political education curriculum. The General Department of Politics has directed its affiliates to design and revise the political education curriculum in line with learners’ knowledge levels, including conscripts doing compulsory military service of 24 months’ duration, professional military personnel, defense employees, new party members, the reserve, the militia and self-defense force, UN peacekeepers, military units stationed in coastal and island areas. Chief among major reforms in political education are the incorporation of compulsory legal education and the extended duration of ethical and lifestyle education. Reference materials are compiled on an up-to-date, diverse, timely and realistic basis to meet the exigencies of military build-up and defense tasks in the new situation.
Agencies and units have flexibly adopted various measures for political education on a learner-centred basis. Yardsticks by which to measure political education are learners’ levels of awareness and political will together with their confidence, sense of responsibility and performance. Emphasis has been placed on enhancing the quality of political education for non-commissioned officers and new recruits. Political education has been closely linked with the ideological work, education on venerable traditions, emulation movements, military training and the building of regularity. Many agencies and units have proactively delivered political education via the local area network (LAN), which has yielded positive preliminary results. Testing and assessment has been taken seriously at all levels with importance attached to learners’ ability to put theory into practice through various formats, including multiple-choice tests, Q&A tests, etc. The contingent of cadres in charge of political education has been trained comprehensively in terms of ethics, professional competence, political will, pedagogical skills, skills at collecting information and using audio-visual aids, and so on.
Attention has been paid to the investment in and the management and employment of tools and equipment for political education, as well as the budget for the Project in line with regulations. Agencies have actively mobilized various financial resources for upgrading technical equipment and the system of reference materials, charts, pictures, movies, videos, etc, thus contributing to enhancing the quality of political education in military units.
Since the Project was started 5 years ago, thanks to drastic and comprehensive reforms, political education has directly contributed to unified ideology and action, promoted internal solidarity, and the Party’s consolidated ideological base within the military. At the same time, it has contributed to bolstering the image of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers”, combating plots by hostile forces to incite “peaceful evolution” and “the depoliticization of the military”, to redressing manifestations of degradation in political ideology, morality and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”, and to building Party organizations and agencies of purity and comprehensive strength.
However, there remain shortcomings to be redressed in the process of implementing the Project. A number of military units have yet to make plans synchronously, comprehensively and creatively, thus making the latter impossible to stay close to reality. Coordination among functional agencies in implementing the Project has not been close enough yet. Some cadres and soldiers have yet to witness profound transformations in their awareness and sense of responsibility. There have still existed breaches of discipline in certain military units.
In the years to come, the world and regional situation likely continues to be complicated and unpredictable. Domestically, despite significant advantages, there remain disadvantages. Reactionary and hostile forces together with political opportunists have and will fiercely accelerate their sabotage activities against the Party, the State and the military by means of “peaceful evolution”, “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”, and “the depoliticization of the military”. In addition to opportunities, the 4th Industrial Revolution has and will pose challenges to Vietnam in all aspects. The military has and will focus on implementing major resolutions, conclusions, plans and strategies by the Party and the State concerning military/defense tasks and Homeland protection, on rearranging its organizational structure, as well as on restructuring military-run enterprises. Against this backdrop, more demanding requirements are to be imposed on political education. It is essential that within the military, Party committees, political commissars, commanders, departments of political affairs and cadres specializing in political affairs should promote their sense of responsibility, develop their leadership capacity, redress shortcomings and undertake comprehensive reforms, thus bringing about profound transformations in the quality and effectiveness of political education. To this end, emphasis should be placed on the following.
First, enhancing leadership over the implementation of Project “Reforming political education in military units in the new situation”. Within the military, Party committees and commanders should continue to be fully aware of the importance of reforming political education in the new situation, on which they are to focus their leadership. Accordingly, Party committees, political commissars and commanders should promote their sense of responsibility for and enhance their leadership over political education in order for the Project to be completed within the stated time frame. Departments of political affairs at all levels should enhance their ability to assess the situation, proactively provide suggestions and advice on reforming political education, and opportunely identify shortcomings to make good. Agencies and units should put great store by reforms in testing and assessment, as well as redressing manifestations of irresponsibility for, and underestimation of testing and assessment, and of paying bribes for recognition of achievements.
Second, continuing to drastically, comprehensively and synchronously reform the content, forms and measures for political education. Military build-up and Homeland protection has seen new developments; soldiers’ awareness has been increasingly heightened; social life has had multi-faceted impacts on cadres and soldiers’ mentality. Against this backdrop, in order to enhance the quality of political education, agencies and units should focus on developing and revising the curriculum in line with learners’ specific circumstances. The curriculum content should put great store by pressing social problems which are brought to the fore and exert profound impacts on the military and soldiers’ awareness. Importance should be attached to education on objectives and ideals of combat and venerable traditions of the Vietnamese nation and the military, as well as to fostered trust, patriotism, national pride, internal solidarity and comradeship among soldiers. Forms of political education should be diversified and creative to draw learners’ attention. Political education should be closely linked with information dissemination, briefings, democratic dialogues, cultural and artistic activities, self-education, learner-centred education, etc. Units should actively apply advances in information technology to political education.
Third, enhancing the quality of cadres in charge of political education in military units. Cadres in charge of political education in military units are required to have strong will political, fine moral qualities, great professional competence, considerable experiences, true creativity, selfless devotion and a great sense of responsibility to deserve to be at the forefront of political education in military units. The contingent of cadres in charge of political education should be sufficient both quantitatively and qualitatively. Specialized training for cadres in charge of political education should be on a regular basis. Moreover, cadres in charge of political education should constantly build up ethics, and maintain healthy lifestyles in order to set examples to soldiers while investing their time, energy and efforts in developing professional competence, pedagogical skills, proficiency in information technology, as well as the ability to translate theory into practice in order to solve ideological problems arising at the grassroots level.
Fourth, closely combining political education with countering “peaceful evolution” and manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. Political education should be closely combined with the task of countering wrong and hostile viewpoints. To this end, units should prepare cadres in charge of political education, who are also members of Force 47 (the cyber unit), for proactively fighting wrong viewpoints in cyberspace and providing learners with information concerning hostile forces’ plots, artifices and sabotage activities as well as manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within. Doing so enables cadres and soldiers to increase their revolutionary vigilance, to promote their determination to fight on ideological and cultural fronts, to avoid being manipulated, to resist negative influences from social life, and to counteract manifestations of degradation in political ideology, morality and lifestyle, thus making the military always loyal to the Party, the State and the people.
Fifth, upholding the aggregate strength when it comes to political education. Reforming political education should be undertaken in tandem with enhancing the quality of combat training, maintaining discipline, and taking good care of soldiers’ material and spiritual life. It is essential that commanders, political commissars and departments of political affairs closely cooperate with advisory, logistic and technical bodies and local administrations in promoting political education among regular troops, the reserve, and the militia and self-defense force. The budget and facilities should be effectively managed while a sense of responsibility should be promoted for the employment and management of facilities for political education.
Reforming and enhancing the quality of political education in military units is a fundamental task for all cadres and soldiers, particularly political commissars, departments of political affairs, and cadres specializing in political affairs at all levels. Full awareness, strong determination and the effective implementation of those aforementioned measures lay a firm foundation for constantly enhancing the effectiveness of political education, thus contributing to consolidating the Party’s ideological base within the military and strengthening the military politically, ideologically and organizationally in order to make them capable of successfully fulfilling assigned tasks.
Sr. Lt. Gen. Nguyen Trong Nghia, Member of the Party Central Committee, Member of the Central Military Commission, Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics