The 141^st Regiment , Division 312, Army Corps 1 is a main infantry unit of the Vietnam People's Army, which was established very early (December 11, 1950); tasked with training, combat readiness and other ad hoc duties assigned by the superiors. In order to meet the requirement of building an all-strong unit, over the past time, the Regiment’s Party Committee and commanders have focused on leading, directing, constantly innovating and improving the quality of political education, aimed at making contribution to raising consciousness and responsibility in task performance, building clean and strong party organisations, and comprehensively strong units. In order to make the work highly effective, the Regiment has conducted synchronous solutions, with good and creative ways.

First of all, the Regiment thoroughly grasps the resolutions, directives and instructions of superior agencies, directly the Party Committee of the 312^th Division on political education. On that basis, every year, the Party Committee of the Regiment and its affiliated  party cells all issue leadership resolutions, clearly defining the objectives, requirements and contents of the solution to lead the work of political education at their unit. Command at all levels develop plans, assign forces, and organise implementation; political agencies and political officers advise leaders and commanders on specific measures and directly direct, guide, inspect, supervise the work to ensure that it is carried out comprehensively, synchronously and effectively. To improve the quality of political education, the Regiment directs its units to screen and grasp the quality of troops; determine suitable content for each subject; establish teacher and communicator staff; make thorough preparation in lesson plans, lectures, sample lectures,  materials. The units hold training to foster skills for teachers and speakers; supply audio-visual media, and various kinds of documents, notebooks, learning materials, etc., in accordance with the Project “Renovating political education at the unit in a new period”; at the same time, invest in facilities, provide funds and efforts to renew, repair and improve learning tools, cultural institutions, and build the environmental landscape of the unit “Regular, green, clean, and scenic”, contributing to supporting and improving the quality of education, etc. Before, during, and after each training period, every year, the Regiment holds review to assess the results of political education, detect weaknesses and weak sides to take timely remedial measures.

Awarding outstanding individuals in the political educating contest

Second, actively renewing the content, form and method of political education close to reality. The Regiment directs agencies and units to focus on educating and raising the soldiers' awareness of Marxism-Leninism; Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style; Party's policies, the laws of the State; resolutions and directives of superiors on training, combat readiness, regularity building, discipline training; military regulations; intrigues and tricks of hostile forces, our military's adversary, etc. In order for the troops to deeply understand the educational contents, the Regiment not only performs well the forms of political education in accordance with the Regulation on Political Education in the Vietnam People's Army and the Militia and Self-Defence Force (issued together with Decision No. 438/QĐ-CT, dated March 21, 2016 of the Chairman of the General Political Department), but also attaches great importance to the propaganda and promotion activities on the occasion of major holidays and political events of the Party, State, the Military, the 1^st Corps, 312 Division and the Regiment.

In order to make the education contents noticeable, memorable and understandable, the Regiment directs its political agency to make leaflets, summarising short and concise contents to issue them to the troops; at the same time, hold youth forums, focusing on the task performance of each agency and unit. The Regiment instructs the units to closely combine political education with traditional education and legal education; continuous education with thematic and subject-based education; thoroughly conduct the work of thought management, combat training, regularity building, disciplining and administrative management. The units always attach great importance to basic training combined with imparting experiences, political and ideological work, and propaganda on training fields with various models creating an exciting, comfortable atmosphere, contributing to improving practical implementation capacity for cadres and soldiers. With the leadership and direction of the party committees and commanders at all levels, the political education of the Regiment was maintained seriously and effectively; The number of troops participating in political study has reached 100%; test results show that 100% of troops meet the requirements, in which over 80% were rated good and very good.

Third, strengthening training to enhance capacity, especially the pedagogical skills and methods for the contingent of teachers and communicators at all levels. This is the key stage to improve the quality of political education. Therefore, the Party Committee and the command of the Regiment have selected and built a contingent of speakers and communicators at all levels with strong political zeal, good ethical qualities, good pedagogical knowledge and methods to perform political education of the Unit. At the same time, encourage and motivate this team to uphold their sense of responsibility, stay positive and conduct self-training, self-learning to improve their capacity and professional qualifications. Every year, they are trained on the contents, methods and forms of education in the model of “5-Easy” that has been tested in reality. The Party Committee of the Regiment regularly directs the Party committees and commanders at all levels to well implement the motto: “the superiors instruct the subordinates” by many flexible forms and measures, thereby, constantly improving the qualifications and comprehensive capacities of the staff, especially in pedagogical methods, working style, troop management capacity, the measure for grasping, managing soldier’s thought, and the ability to handle situations that arise in political education. In 5 consecutive years (2013 - 2018), the Regiment held 05 training courses for political cadres at all levels, 05 exams for political instructors and speakers. 100% of the participants achieve good and very good results. Currently, the contingent of political cadres, company and battalion-level political teachers of the Regiment have good knowledge, skills and pedagogical methods, meeting the requirements and tasks of political education of the Regiment.

Fourth, closely combining political education with ideological work and organisational work. The Regiment’s Party Committee and Command direct units to keep close link with soldiers’ families and localities, learn and grasp the thoughts and aspirations of each soldier to have appropriate educational measures and create close links between cadres, soldiers and soldiers' families, as well as between units and local authorities in the management of soldiers’ thought. Strictly implementing the Grassroots Democracy Regulation, Political and Cultural Day, Legal Day; combine the contents of political education with information supplementation through newspapers, radio, TV, etc.; regularly maintain the models, such as: “A law each week”, “A legal question each day” and hold cultural, artistic, physical and sports activities during break time and holidays. Actively organise contests, forums, and seminars with the topics of: “Youth with State Law, Military Discipline”, “Youth with regularity building, discipline observance and traffic safety”, “Learning the tradition” of the Unit, the 312^th Division, Army  Corps 1, etc. Every month, the Regiment instructs political agencies to select contents and edit to hold thematic briefing for cadres and soldiers to apply in their work, relevant to their assigned responsibilities and tasks.

Along with that, the Party Committee of the Regiment instruct the units to thoroughly grasp and strictly implement Central Resolution 4 (12^th tenure) on Party building and rectification, Directive No. 05-CT/TW of the Politburo (12^th tenure) on promoting learning and following Ho Chi Minh's thought, morality and style, 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 talents, deserving the title of “Uncle Ho's soldiers” in the new period with specific criteria and jobs. At the same time, it requires that the contingent of cadres at all levels must be a leading role model in awareness, political zeal, ideology, ethical qualities, methods, working manners, and perform well their duties and tasks in the education and management of soldiers’ thought.

Thanks to the good implementation of political education, the Regiment has built up cadres and soldiers with strong political zeal, good moral qualities, and no degradation in political ideology, morality, and lifestyle. They have thoroughly grasped their duties and shown enthusiasm with their work. That result has contributed to constantly improving the overall quality, combat readiness ability, and task accomplishment of the regiment. For many consecutive years, the Regiment has been awarded as a Good Training Unit and awarded with the Leading-Unit Flag in the determined to win Emulation movement of the Ministry of National Defence. In 2000, the Regiment was awarded the title People's Armed Forces Heroic Unit by the State.

Promoting the achieved results, the Party Committee and Commander of the 141^st Regiment continue to lead and direct the units to further renew the contents, methods and forms of political education to continuously improve the effectiveness and quality of this work, practically contributing to the successful completion of assigned tasks, striving for more achievements towards the 70^th anniversary of the its establishment (11^th December 1950 – 11^th December, 2020).

Major DANG VAN THUONG, Political Commissar of the Regiment