Society

For children to develop comprehensivelyin the digital age

Thanh Quynh • DNUM_BFZAFZCACF 09:17

Nghe An currently has nearly 500,000 team members, teenagers and children operating in 887 teams across the province. Entering the digital age with many opportunities and challenges, caring for and guiding children to develop comprehensively in terms of intelligence, physical strength, morality and life skills is becoming an extremely important requirement.

On the occasion of the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers Team (May 15, 1941 - May 15, 2025), Nghe An Newspaper had a conversation with Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung - Central Level I Coach, teacher in charge of the National Outstanding Team, currently working at Khai Son Primary and Secondary School, Anh Son District.

Reporter: It is known that the Khai Son Primary and Secondary School Union, although located in a mountainous area, is one of the typical units in the province with a long history of outstanding achievements. Could you briefly introduce the results that the Union has achieved in recent times?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung:Currently, the Khai Son Primary and Secondary School Union has more than 750 children and members. In the past, the unit has achieved the title of "Outstanding Strong Union" and was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Central Youth Union for the 2022-2023 school year and has been commended and rewarded by the Provincial and District Union Councils for many years. The Union has had students achieving the title of Excellent Team Commander at the provincial level for the 2022-2023 school year; students achieving the title of Excellent Star Leader at the provincial level for the 2023-2024 school year.

Recently, joy came to the Khai Son Primary and Secondary School Union when a student became one of three representatives of Nghe An province to receive the National Kim Dong Award for the 2023-2024 school year. This is a great and noble award for team members nationwide. In addition, 2 students of the school also won high prizes at the "We Tell Stories of Uncle Ho at the District and Provincial Levels" Contest in 2025.

As for myself, after nearly 20 years of working as a Music teacher and a Team Leader, I was fortunate to achieve the title of excellent teacher at the provincial level and excellent Team Leader at the provincial level in the 2019-2020 school year. In 2022, I achieved the title of Central Level 1 Coach, achieved a record in Team Ceremony Conducting and was awarded the Badge of Excellent Team Leader by the Central Executive Committee of the Youth Union.

In 2024, I was honored to become the leader of the National Outstanding Team and this year, I am very happy to be the representative of Nghe An to participate in the program "Proud Melody" with the theme "Red scarf on your shoulder" organized by the Central Council of the Young Pioneers.

These are all very meaningful milestones. However, the greatest happiness is still being able to accompany the children on their journey to adulthood, seeing them, despite their lack and difficulties, still strive to rise up and continue the fine tradition of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers.

PV: Looking back on nearly 20 years of working with the Young Pioneers, how do you feel about the changes in children in each period, especially in today's digital society?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung:I remember, when I first started working, we didn’t even know about mobile phones. All activities of collecting information and reporting tasks had to be sent in writing. The distance between schools, between communes, districts, provinces and from rural to urban areas was quite far, making the environment for students at that time much narrower.

However, today, the gap between regions is not as large as before. Students now have the opportunity to access a richer source of knowledge, are encouraged to develop their creativity and open-mindedness. With the strong development of digital technology, all activities and movements of children have been implemented in a vibrant way. The Union does not stop at reporting in writing but is expressed in images, media clips and spread through channels such as Facebook, Zalo, as well as the official information pages of the Union and the Department of Education and Training. Thanks to that, the spread of the Union's activities towards children is faster and more profound.

However, besides the advantages, children also have to face many new challenges and pressures. First is the pressure of studying and health problems, in the context of a large amount of knowledge, increasingly high learning requirements, the psychology and health of students have not been cared for and consulted promptly. Therefore, the situation of school stress is becoming more and more common.

Regarding communication skills, in the past, students' learning and living activities mainly took place directly through classrooms, textbooks and extracurricular activities. Nowadays, social networks have developed strongly, helping students access information more quickly, but also increasing the risk of lacking direct communication skills, being easily influenced by misinformation and the risk of technology addiction.

In addition, school violence and cyber violence are also on the rise, causing psychological trauma to many students, affecting their self-confidence and personality development.

PV: Faced with those challenges, what do you think the Young Pioneers need to do to guide, accompany and support the children to firmly overcome them?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung: From practical work as well as my own experiences, in my opinion, to develop the Team work, we can focus on 3 key solutions. First, it is the establishment and effective maintenance of a school counseling and school health team, in order to comprehensively care for the physical and mental health of students. Because teachers are not only teachers, but also a reliable support for students to seek when they encounter difficulties and problems. Through the counseling team, teachers can support students in orienting their thinking, choosing the right actions, helping them to be more steadfast in the face of academic pressure and common psychological problems.

Next, it is necessary to increase the organization of extracurricular activities on health care and life skills such as: first aid skills; sex education for school-age children; accident and injury prevention... These activities not only equip students with self-protection skills, but also create a safe and friendly environment, helping them to be ready to share and seek support when needed.

Finally, it is necessary to equip students with the skills to use technology and access the internet safely and healthily. Social networks are a double-edged sword that can help people exploit them properly to develop their intelligence; however, they will also become a social evil if they exploit them for the wrong purposes. Therefore, it is extremely necessary to equip students with the skills to identify false information and use the internet for the right purposes. The Team also needs to closely coordinate with relevant departments and agencies to organize propaganda sessions and disseminate laws related to network safety, and at the same time, integrate this content into Team activities so that students can easily access and remember it.

In my opinion, if implemented synchronously and flexibly, the above 3 groups of solutions will practically contribute to helping children overcome challenges and develop comprehensively in terms of intelligence, personality and skills in the digital age.

PV: Many people still believe that educating students is mainly the responsibility of schools and underestimate the role of families and society. What do you think about this point of view?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung:In my opinion, only when family, school and society are closely connected and complement each other in education, can we equip children with a solid moral foundation, helping them confidently step into the future with a full set of knowledge, skills and personality.

Because the family is always the first educational environment, having the most profound influence on the formation of each student's personality. Parents are not only the ones who raise them, but also the first teachers, teaching children the first lessons in life about morality, behavior, responsibility to themselves and the community.

Schools, with their role in imparting knowledge and training life skills, continue to foster a solid moral and intellectual foundation in students. Moral education in schools is not only demonstrated through formal lessons, but is also nurtured through extracurricular activities and the Team movement, helping students develop critical thinking, responsibility and compassion.

Society – the larger environment – ​​is where students come into contact with diverse values ​​of real life. Society has the responsibility to honor good deeds, and at the same time, it also needs to condemn deviant behaviors, thereby contributing to building a healthy, civilized and compassionate living environment.

PV: To spread the Young Pioneer movement widely, can you share good models and meaningful initiatives that you have effectively implemented to attract a large number of students to participate and equip them with necessary life skills?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung:During my work, I and the school have implemented many interesting models and initiatives to attract students to participate in Team activities, while also training them in practical life skills. Some typical models include: "Building beautiful friendships", "Say no to school violence"... Accordingly, the Team has established clubs such as: Study Club, Sports Club, "Friends helping friends" Club... to create useful playgrounds, guide students to a healthy lifestyle, and build a spirit of solidarity in a friendly and safe learning environment.

Organizing activities to support disadvantaged students in the Union, people with disabilities in the area, people affected by natural disasters, etc., contributes to training students in responsibility, compassion, and sharing in life. The Union has also implemented new activities such as Semaphore flag dancing in school yard activities. Previously, Semaphore flag dancing in Nghe An was not given much attention, but when participating in the Kim Dong National Training Camp in the Northern region in 2022, I was thoroughly trained in this subject. Semaphore flag dancing is not only a physical activity but also a visual communication subject, helping students improve their communication skills, train their thinking and teamwork skills.

According to the wishes of the students, the school and I have focused on integrating experiential activities into the Youth Union program. These activities are built closely following the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and the school's professional plan, ensuring that both the educational tasks are well performed and that the environment for students to practice practical skills is created. The experiential activities are linked to the monthly themes and major holidays of the year such as: Experiential visit to the Border Guard Station on December 22; "Silk Flower Making Art" activity on October 20; "Artistic Cake Tray" competition on March 8; Making a magazine to celebrate November 20, etc.

PV: On the occasion of the 84th anniversary of the founding of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers Team (May 15, 1941 - May 15, 2025), what message do you want to send to the team members - the future owners of the country?

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung:I hope that the young team members will always be proud of the glorious tradition of the Team, appreciate the great contributions of previous generations, especially young heroes such as Kim Dong, Le Van Tam, Vo Thi Sau, Nguyen Ba Ngoc...

The red scarves on the shoulders of the children are not only a beautiful symbol of the tradition of the Ho Chi Minh Young Pioneers, but also a reminder of each member’s will, responsibility and gratitude. Always remember May 15, 1941 – the day the Team was founded and the example of the first member, Kim Dong.

President Ho Chi Minh once advised: "Young people do small things, according to their strength" - this simple but profound teaching still holds true today. I believe that with will, pride and constant effort, you will study well, practice diligently, nurture beautiful dreams, so that in the future you can contribute to building a strong and developed Vietnam, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers as Uncle Ho wished!

PV: Thank you for the conversation!