New functions and tasks of district-level political centers

On the afternoon of December 17, the Central Propaganda Department held a national online conference to deploy Regulation 208-QD/TW, dated November 8, 2019 of the Secretariat on the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of district-level political centers and Conclusion 66-KL/TW, dated November 8, 2019 of the Secretariat on summarizing the implementation of Decision 185-QD/TW. Comrade Bui Truong Giang - Deputy Head of the Central Propaganda Department chaired the conference at the Hanoi bridge.

At Nghe An bridge, comrade Tran Quoc Khanh - Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department chaired. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Decision 185 and difficulties in implementation

Conclusion No. 66-KL/TW, dated November 8, 2019 of the Secretariat affirmed that, after more than 11 years of implementing Decision 185-QD/TW of the Secretariat on“Functions, tasks, and organizational structure of political training centers at district, town, and provincial level", district-level political training centers nationwide have gradually created positive changes in organizational structure and quality of operations.

Party committees and authorities at all levels have actively led and organized implementation in accordance with local conditions, as well as paid attention to investing in facilities and allocating funds to ensure the center's operations. At the same time, the organization has been streamlined; standards for staff and lecturers have been clearer; many solutions have been implemented to improve training quality...

However, the implementation of Decision No. 185 still has some difficulties and shortcomings. Specifically:

According to Decision No. 185, the political training center is under two different heads, both under the district Party Committee and the district People's Committee. This leads to a lack of uniformity in organization, personnel, staffing, and overlap in leadership and direction; and a lack of consistency in the system of administrative documents issued by the center.

Cadres and lecturers of many political training centers do not receive party work allowances or public service allowances; seniority allowances and overtime regimes are not clearly defined.

The regime for part-time lecturers is not yet guaranteed. In some provinces, the leaders of political training centers are equivalent to the leaders of district-level departments and offices, but they are not promoted to senior specialists.

The facilities and teaching equipment of many centers do not meet the requirements of teaching, scientific research of lecturers and learning of students.

Some centers, especially in remote areas, do not have modern teaching facilities such as projectors, computers, and sound systems; there are no reading rooms or libraries for lecturers and students to study.

Thanh Chuong District Political Training Center is in the process of upgrading and repairing to serve the training needs of local officials. Photo: Thanh Quynh

In particular, after localities implemented the Resolution of the 6th Central Conference, Session XII on "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined, effective and efficient", the head of the propaganda department is also the director of the district-level political training center. Some localities across the country not only organized the consolidation of titles, but also merged the center with the district-level propaganda department.

The above shortcomings require the early development and promulgation of a set of criteria to standardize district-level political training centers as well as unified guidance and direction on organizational models, operating mechanisms, leadership and direction of Party committees and People's Committees at all levels...

Innovations fordistrict-level political center

Regulation 208-QD/TW, dated November 8, 2019 of the Secretariat has many new points, overcoming many existing shortcomings in the functions, tasks, and organizational structure of district-level political training centers.

First of all, the name has changed, according to the new regulation it is "district-level political center" (previously the political training center of districts, towns, and cities under the province). This is a public service unit directly under the district-level Party Committee, under the direct and regular leadership of the district-level Party Committee Standing Committee.

Regarding the organizational structure, the district-level political center has a staff including a director (the head of the district-level Party Committee's propaganda department is the director of the district-level political center under a part-time regime), a number of deputy directors and full-time lecturers; the staff is from 4 to 6 people, belonging to the staff of the Party agencies or district-level Party Committees, considered and decided by the district-level Party Committee's standing committee based on requirements, tasks, total population and cadres and Party members in the area.

In addition, the part-time lecturer regime is implemented to serve the teaching work.

Regulation 208-QD/TW, dated November 8, 2019 of the Secretariat clearly states that the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee, City Party Committee, Town Party Committee, and District Party Committee coordinates with provincial political schools to be responsible for providing professional guidance to political centers in cities, towns, and districts. Illustrative photo Thanh Le

In addition, the district-level Party Committee directly leads the implementation of training and development content, programs, and plans; organization and staffing; policies and regimes for cadres, lecturers, and students; implementation of training and development management regulations and investment in facilities and funding for the center's operations.

The Decision also has many important contents to promote the implementation of planning work, perfecting the team of full-time lecturers and part-time lecturers in sufficient quantity, ensuring teaching quality, ensuring regulations, lecturers of centers are trained and fostered in advanced political theory...