Has a "shell", hollow "inside"

(Baonghean) -Due to many reasons, in our province, the implementation of the Project on Building a System of Cultural - Information - Sports Institutions (VH-TT-TT) still faces many difficulties and obstacles, especially for localities in mountainous and highland areas...

Some facts

In late September 2012, we were present in Luong Minh commune (Tuong Duong), a locality that is currently busy with resettlement work. According to the conclusion of scientists from the Institute of Geophysics, the high mountain behind Xop Mat village (the commune center) has cracks inside due to faults causing landslides, threatening the lives of the people. Therefore, households in Xop Mat and the headquarters of commune-level agencies such as the commune People's Committee, schools, and health stations must all be relocated. Currently, in the chaos, Luong Minh officials and people are still trying to build a house made of bamboo, roofed with cement and with a sign "Community Learning Center", which also functions as a commune cultural house.

According to Mr. Vi Dinh Phuc - Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, Luong Minh in the current situation cannot do without a place to hold meetings and organize cultural and social activities. That is at the commune level, and at the village level, according to Mr. Phuc, currently only 3/10 villages of the commune have invested in building cultural houses, namely La village, Dua village and Ca Moong village. The remaining 7 villages do not have cultural houses, and every time they organize a meeting, they have to borrow the house of the village chief or secretary. Not to mention that every time there are propaganda campaigns, law dissemination or art practice for major holidays, they face many difficulties in the organization.

After 1 year of construction, the multi-functional cultural house of Tam Dinh commune (Tuong Duong) still has not completed the rough construction.

According to the report of the People's Committee of Tuong Duong district, up to now, the whole district has only 12/18 communes/towns with multi-functional cultural houses and 103/154 villages with community cultural houses (of which only 47 houses meet the criteria of the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism, 34 houses have seriously degraded and need to be repaired); 3/18 communes have stadiums of 3,000m2 or more; 6/18 communes have libraries, 11/18 communes have cultural post offices; only 4 radio stations are still operating, 8 stations have been damaged; 3 communes do not have a planned site for a standard cultural institution system. It should be added that 12/18 commune-level cultural houses have been invested in construction, but in some cases, they only have the "shell" but not the "inner part", so they have not been able to promote their function and efficiency. For example, the Xieng My commune cultural house has been completed for over a year now but has not been put into use because it “lacks everything”, from tables and chairs, speakers to facilities for community activities. Therefore, for over a year now, this project has been in a state of “exposed to rain and sun”, and some items (ceilings, windows) have shown signs of deterioration.

In Ky Son district, only 7/21 (33.3%) communes have cultural houses that meet national standards. It is worth mentioning that Muong Xen town, the economic, cultural and social center of the district, currently does not have a cultural house. At the village level, only 68/189 (35.9%) villages have cultural houses (of which 2 meet national standards, 66 meet provincial standards). The number of communes with soccer fields is currently only 3/21 (14.2%), while 2 communes do not have volleyball courts. The number of villages without sports fields is still 46/189 (24.3%). Not to mention some communal cultural houses and stadiums that have shown signs of damage and deterioration, such as in Huoi Tu and Muong Long. Community cultural houses of some villages built many years ago have now seriously degraded and need plans to repair, upgrade or rebuild.

Causes and solutions

Mr. Moong Thai Nhi - Head of the Department of Culture - Information of Ky Son district said: "For mountainous districts in general, Ky Son district in particular, the most difficult thing in building a synchronous system of cultural, sports and information institutions is land planning. This stems from the terrain factor, the large natural area but mainly rugged mountains and forests, so planning the land according to the Ministry's criteria can be said to be very difficult to achieve". Along with that, in some localities, the Party Committee and the government are not aware of the role of cultural institutions, so they have not paid due attention. Therefore, having a cultural house without a yard, without tables, chairs, or loudspeakers is a fairly common situation in remote villages.

Mr. Vi Sat Son - Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district affirmed that, besides the terrain and limited investment funds, there are other reasons such as the lives of most people in the highlands are still facing many difficulties, so mobilizing resources for social work is almost impossible. The investment in building cultural, sports and information institutions from programs and projects is still scattered and unsynchronized, so when put into use, the functions of those institutions have not been fully utilized. In addition, the capacity and experience of the grassroots cultural staff are still limited and lack initiative and enthusiasm for work...

In terms of solutions, both Mr. Moong Thai Nhi and Mr. Vi Sat Son believe that it is necessary to have synchronous investment from the State, strengthen the role of Party committees and authorities at all levels, improve the professional qualifications of grassroots cultural cadres... In particular, it is necessary to overcome the mentality of waiting and relying on village cadres and people. Villages that have invested in building cultural houses but do not have tables, chairs, or loudspeakers, depending on specific conditions, mobilize people to contribute wood to make tables and chairs or raise funds to buy loudspeakers, meeting the cultural and information needs of the village. Doing so will raise awareness in managing and protecting common assets of cadres and people, contributing to overcoming the situation of having a "shell" but an empty "inner core".

WORK