Monday, June 24, 2019, 11:10 (GMT+7)
The Army Corps 1 raises the effectiveness of political education

Political education for cadres and troops is a task of paramount importance to the combat strength of the entire Military. Thus, the Army Corps 1 - a strategic mobile corps has determined to well perform this work as the basis for successfully fulfilling its assigned mission.

To meet the increasingly high task requirements amidst the multi-dimensional impacts by the social life on its staff members and the hostile forces’ drastic sabotage, the Army Corps 1 has decided to keep improving its cadres and soldiers’ political zeal, revolutionary ethics, working style, and capacity. Moreover, it has focused on building pure, strong party organizations and comprehensively strong units as well as making them capable of the tasks assigned by the Party, State, and Military. To that end, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command have comprehensively implemented the measures, with emphasis placed on raising the effectiveness of political education. According to the Corps, this is a fundamental task and a deciding factor in maintaining the Party’s ideological ground within itself.

First of all, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command have put store by leadership and direction over political education. With the resolve, the Corps’ Party Committee and Command as well as the all-level party committees, commissars, commands, and political offices have always grasped the Directive 124-CT/QUTW by the Central Military Commission (CMC) on “enhancing leadership and direction over political education at units in the new period” and the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period”. At the same time, they have introduced this important work to all staff members within the Corps and rendered cadres at all levels fully aware of the importance and necessity of raising the quality and effectiveness of political education. The Corps has developed the action plan for the Project on “renewing political education at military units in the new period” to ensure the continuity, uniformity, and synchronicity among offices and units in line with the implementation of the Regulations on political education within Vietnam’s People’s Army and Militia and Self-Defence Force. It has closely combined political education with training, combat readiness, standard order building, and discipline management. Notably, in early 2019, the Corps’ Party Committee directed the all-level party committees to include the measures for political education in their leadership resolutions. On a yearly basis, it has used the results of political education as an important criterion for assessing the task performance of cadres and party members and the building of comprehensively strong units.

Troops reading newspapers on the training ground during a break

In the process, offices and units have always well implemented the work of managing political education and attached significance to managing the contents, program, duration, forms and results of political education. They have strictly maintained the order for political education, ensured the great strength for education, and stepped up inspection and assessment of the results of political education at units. Consequently, the Corps’ political education has achieved fundamental reforms in a practical, effective manner as evidenced by cadres and soldiers’ improved awareness, determination, and task performance.

Being flexible and creative in renewing the programs, contents, forms, and methods has been seen as a key step towards the improved effectiveness of political education. Based on the contents and duration set by the General Department of Politics and units’ training plans, the all-level political offices have closely cooperated with competent offices in formulating the plans on political education for each group of troops with sufficient contents, programs, and duration. Political education has been closely combined with training, combat readiness, and conditions of offices and units. Focuses have been placed on introducing Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, the Party’s guidelines, the State’s law and policy, the history, tradition, and task of the Party, Military and units; on furthering legal dissemination and education; on stepping up the studying and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle. Besides, the Corps has assigned the Department of Social Sciences and Humanities (the Corps’ Military School) to study and design 2 topics (Studying and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle; Overcoming weaknesses in performing the political task and observing law and discipline), included them in the programs for political education at offices and units, and directed its divisions and brigades to indentify and design 2 or 3 topics in accordance with their particularities by themselves. Legal offices have been asked to select laws, articles, resolutions, directives, and decrees related to military operation to design the “Soldiers’ handbook”; soldiers’ political education notebooks and cadres’ work notebooks have all contained 27 signs of degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” under the Resolution of the 12th Party Central Committee’s 4th Plenum. The all-level political offices have drawn up some situations and measures to settle the ideological issues at units.

While renewing the programs and contents of political education, units within the Corps have flexibly, creatively used forms and methods of political education. They have closely combined traditional teaching methods with modern ones, equipment of knowledge with exchange of hands-on experiences and used projectors, visual models, and documentaries to attract the learners’ attention and help them clearly understand and apply the contents to their task. Politico-ideological meetings, Politico-Spiritual Days, and Legal Days on a monthly basis have been renewed frequently in terms of content, method, and approach. Commanders at all levels have focused on dealing with all difficulties of cadres and soldiers right at grass-roots level units, thereby creating a really democratic, open, united atmosphere within the units. Doing so has contributed to consolidating and preserving the intra-unity and the military-civilian unity as well as achieving a sense of consensus in the performance of the task. In the process, offices and units have closely, effectively combined political education with emulation movements and campaigns via the internal radio system and mass media. At the same time, they have effectively promoted the role of cultural institutions in providing political education for soldiers.

To achieve a breakthrough in raising the quality and effectiveness of political education, the Corps has closely, strictly organized refresher courses for the cadres in charge of political education at all levels. The refresher courses have been centred on the core points of higher echelons’ directives and guidance, new issues, and weaknesses in order to improve the knowledge of cadres in charge of political education. At the same time, the refresher courses have been aimed at the method of approving the lesson plans, the measures to settle weaknesses in preparing the lesson plans (including electronic ones), platoon commanders’ method of holding debates and all-level cadres’ method of grasping and managing troops’ ideology, and the methods of identifying the hostile forces’ acts of sabotage and fighting against wrong, hostile viewpoints in cyberspace. Moreover, the Corps has directed its affiliates to set up the models of political education in accordance with their function and task, draw lessons and multiply the effective models, and handle the weaknesses in political education. To improve the knowledge, methodology, and skills of cadres in charge of political education at all levels, the Corps has organized the Political Education Cadre Contest under the regulations. Doing so has helped commanders at all levels grasp the quality of cadres in charge of political education to develop the plans for deploying cadres to attend training courses in order to enhance their knowledge comprehensively and their capability in political education. At the same time, the Corps has stepped up the exchange of experiences and actively identified and multiplied typical examples and effective models for managing and performing the political education task at its units. It has cooperated with the Military Technical Academy in holding training courses so that all cadres in charge of political within the Corps could design and use PowerPoint lesson plans. Political commissars at all levels have frequently attended and assessed the political education cadres’ lectures.

With the sound awareness and high responsibility, the Corps has gained the encouraging achievements in political education. The method of political education has been renewed basically, positively at all levels; the capacity of political cadres has been improved; military and technical cadres have been more responsible and active in joining political education at units. The reforms in the contents, form, and method of political education have helped create a wide and deep, diverse educational environment, promote troops’ activeness and proactiveness in acquiring the knowledge and gradually improving the qualities and personality of revolutionary soldiers, and transform education into self-education. As a result, the Corps’ quality of political education has been unceasingly enhanced. It should be noted that the Corps’ cadres and soldiers have always shown their political will and responsibility, overcome all difficulties and hardships, readily undertaken and successfully fulfilled all contingency, hard, complex missions, such as combat readiness, search and rescue, natural disaster prevention and control, border patrol road construction, and live-firing field exercise, etc. In addition, the Corps’ cadres and soldiers’ “immunity” against negative impacts made by life and the hostile forces’ sabotage has been increasingly improved; they have proactively indentified and effectively combated wrong, hostile viewpoints, particularly in cyberspace.

The effectiveness of political education has contributed to improving the qualities, morality, lifestyle, and personality of revolutionary soldiers and consolidating the Corps’ cadres and soldiers’ faith and absolute loyalty for the Party, Homeland and people, which has laid a solid foundation for building a politically, ideologically strong Corps and making it capable of all assigned tasks.

Sr. Col. Nguyen Duc Hung, Secretary of the Corps’ Party Committee

Political Commissar of the Corps

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