During his lifetime, President Ho Chi Minh once affirmed that “Youth are the future masters of the country, the country's prosperity or decline, weakness or strength depends partly on the youth”. Basically, the team of students are the elite youth of the country; in addition to equipping them with knowledge, it is necessary to guide them to raise their political awareness, foster revolutionary ideals to supplement the source of high-quality party members for the Party.
In the current reality, the negative side of the market economy, the major cases prosecuted and tried in recent years have had a significant impact on the ideology and motivation of students to strive to join the Party, causing certain difficulties for the work of developing Party members in the school sector. Mr. Dau Duc Anh - Deputy Head of the Office of the Party Committee of Vinh University said: Regularly grasping the ideological developments of students to promptly fight against the distorted arguments of hostile forces, guiding students to have a correct understanding of the ideological foundation, guidelines and policies of the Party must be given special attention. Besides, nothing is more convincing than using "real people, real events" who are young Party members from student Party cells to directly propagate and enlighten the Youth Union.
Young Party member Van Huyen Chi, a final year accounting student at the School of Economics (Vinh University) is one of those examples. Huyen Chi tried to study the Party sympathy class when she was a 12th grader at Nguyen Sy Sach High School (Thanh Chuong), but then she was not old enough to be admitted to the school. “Luckily, when I entered Vinh University, the school created conditions for me to participate as a class officer, a union officer, and at the same time chose to give an inspirational speech at the conference welcoming new students. From there, it motivated me to continue to strive to join the Party. Becoming a Party member, I always remind myself to be more exemplary to create a positive influence on union members and young people in the faculty and school,” Huyen Chi shared. It is known that, in addition to her academic achievements, Huyen Chi is also an exemplary class monitor and a member of the Executive Committee of the School of Economics Youth Union (Vinh University). Similarly, young party member Tran Thi Mai Trang - Vice President of Vinh University Student Association, before entering university, strived to join the Party at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, so she also became one of the factors inspiring students in the whole school.
The Party Committees of some colleges and universities in the province also believe that in order to create conditions for students to join the Party, it is necessary to create resources early. Right from the time students first enroll, the Party Committees must screen and select the right subjects for training, guide students to activities and introduce them to participate in Party awareness training classes, thereby nurturing positive factors for admission to the Party. For students, if they meet the criteria for Party admission, they should be admitted in the second or third year, which will help promote the role of students during their study time. In addition, it is necessary to assign appropriate tasks to new Party members so that they can continue to strive and can officially transfer to the Party.
For high school level, the role of homeroom teachers in this issue is also very important, because teachers are the mirror for students to look up to. For example, teacher Sam Hai Yen - Literature teacher at Que Phong High School, was the first student of the provincial boarding high school to be admitted to the Party. At that time, Ms. Yen was a female student of Thai ethnicity, traveling more than 200km to Vinh to study at the provincial boarding school. Although her family's conditions and circumstances were difficult, she never stopped trying, being both an active Deputy Secretary of the school's Youth Union and an excellent student in the province in Literature for many consecutive years. After graduating from Vinh University with excellent results, she continued to study for a master's degree and was accepted to work at Que Phong High School, being an excellent teacher at the provincial level and receiving the title of emulation fighter for many consecutive years. As a homeroom teacher, Ms. Sam Hai Yen has guided and guided many students to strive to join the Party.
According to the Resolution of the Nghe An Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term, each year the province admits 4,500-5,000 party members. However, from 2020 to 2022, the province admitted an average of 3,776 party members each year and has not met the target in any year (the highest year was 2022, when 3,998 party members were admitted, reaching 94.11% of the target). Meanwhile, currently, implementing Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW of the 13th Central Executive Committee on strengthening, consolidating and building grassroots party organizations and improving the quality of party members in the new period, the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee assigns the target of developing new party members to affiliated grassroots party organizations at least equal to 3% of the total number of party members.
Accordingly, the whole province admitted 6,095 new party members (an increase of 1,847 compared to the Resolution of the 19th Provincial Party Congress). This is a big challenge for many grassroots party organizations. Therefore, high schools, universities and colleges are identified as potential environments to discover, nurture and create high-quality party members. On January 13, 2023, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 1657-CV/TU requesting the Standing Committees of district party committees, city party committees, town party committees and affiliated party committees to survey the situation, develop plans, and propose solutions to develop party members, focusing on both quantity and quality in the spirit of Resolution No. 21. In particular, focusing on implementing the target of admitting the masses who are students, trainees and pupils in schools and training institutions.
In anticipation of the implementation of Resolution 21, in early 2023, Thanh Chuong District Party Committee organized a conference to listen to and resolve difficulties in the work of developing Party members with the participation of high schools and Vocational Education - Continuing Education Centers in the area. At this conference, Mr. Nguyen Van Que - Standing Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee requested high schools to focus on reviewing and nominating qualified teachers and students to attend training courses for Party members. Rebuild internal regulations, re-regulate some positions such as group leaders, deputy group leaders of professional groups... must be Party members.
“The Party Committee must develop a specific plan, conduct surveys, evaluate and analyze the actual quality of the masses in schools to promptly guide and remove difficulties and obstacles for the grassroots in the work of creating sources, discovering sources and recruiting party members to ensure the prescribed standards, conditions, principles, processes, records and procedures. In particular, high schools must closely direct and guide the team of homeroom teachers, subject teachers, regularly contact parents, create conditions for students to study well, promote the role of youth leaders not only in union activities but also truly excel in studying” - Mr. Le Dinh Ly - Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee emphasized at the Forum "Improving the quality of Party development work among students".
On the other hand, to avoid wasting resources, grassroots party organizations (high schools, residential areas, universities, etc.) need to closely coordinate in assessing, monitoring, and nurturing the quality of Party admission sources, especially for students who are not old enough to be admitted to high schools.
In addition to the above solutions, some Party committees believe that it is necessary to improve the quality of Party committee and Party cell activities in a practical direction, suitable for the digital age; strengthen administrative reform, apply information technology in Party work, and Party member management in accordance with the practical situation. Especially in student Party cells - the "nucleus" of leadership for young Party members among students and trainees.
In addition, the Provincial Party Standing Committee also requested to strengthen the direction of Party committees towards socio-political organizations, especially the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and Trade Unions in educating and selecting outstanding union members and members to introduce to Party organizations for consideration, training and admission into the Party.
Reality shows that in order for students to come to the Youth Union as a trusted companion, Youth Union chapters at all levels need to invest in innovating the content and form of organizing activities in a way that is close to and suitable for the psychology of the age group and the cognitive development of students. In addition, it is necessary to boldly assign new and difficult tasks to students to challenge and help them develop their abilities, express their thoughts, perceptions, and ideals, thereby discovering positive factors to nurture and introduce to the Party. At the same time, through movements and practical activities, Youth Union chapters at all levels in schools need to orient and educate students to increase their "resistance" to negative manifestations, the dark side of society and the sabotage and distortion of hostile forces, especially on social networks; avoid the situation of "party indifference" and "distance from politics" - as directed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the 11th National Youth Union Congress, term 2017-2022.
To remove difficulties in the admission work for students in high schools (grade 12 students) at present, when the assigned quota is many times higher than before but there are no specific regulations and instructions, the implementation process is still entangled, especially regarding the age to participate in Party awareness training, the age to consider admission to the Party; the time to consider admission... In Document No. 291-BC/TU dated April 13, 2023, Nghe An Provincial Party Committee requested the Central Government to have specific regulations and instructions on conditions and standards for students in high schools. At the same time, promptly summarize Directive 34-CT/TW, dated May 30, 1998 of the 8th Politburo on "Strengthening political and ideological work, consolidating Party organizations, mass organizations and Party member development work in schools" to issue directive documents suitable to the new situation and conditions.
However, the most important thing is that, on the path to becoming a party member, each student must have the awareness to self-cultivate, practice, improve knowledge, cultivate political qualities, aspiration to contribute and the spirit of serving the Fatherland and serving the People as the lyrics of the song Youth Aspirations say: "Don't ask what the Fatherland has done for you, but ask what you have done for the Fatherland today...".
