The initiator of "The Drum of Studying"

Born in 1942 in Tuong Son commune - Anh Son, Mr. Tran Dang Sum had been a teacher since the 1960s, then was sent to study at the Pedagogical University, continued to teach primary education, and was then assigned to work at the Anh Son Education Department. In 1985, he was selected to study at the Nguyen Ai Quoc Party School and continued to stay at the school as a lecturer, then was assigned to the Provincial Party Committee's Organizing Committee until his retirement in 2002.

He said he was retiring, but less than a year later, Mr. Sum was invited by the Tuong Son Party Committee to take up the permanent position of the Commune's Association for the Promotion of Education. Operating in a difficult and complicated area, with a large population and both religious and ethnic minorities, he determined: To promote education, one must first know how to mobilize the people. He had the merit of building a team of cadres for the promotion of education, knowing how to propagate and mobilize to build the association and build funds.

At the Tuong Son Commune Education Promotion Congress, he was elected to the Executive Committee and became Vice Chairman. The Executive Committee consisted of 23 people from villages, clans, and schools and agencies. He took the agency branch, that is, the commune-level trade union, as both the leader and the implementer. Each commune official was a propagandist. Together with the 3 school branches as the core.

Thanks to that, Tuong Son has built 31 learning promotion associations, including 14 hamlet associations, 13 clan associations and 4 school and agency associations with nearly 2,000 members. The learning promotion associations operate regularly and effectively. Each association has initiated the establishment of a learning promotion fund, especially since the Party Committee decided that each family should contribute 10,000 VND per year to the Learning Promotion Fund, so the commune's fund has reached 34 million VND.

Every year, the village and hamlet Learning Promotion Associations give out awards on June 1st and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the clan and clan associations give out awards on the January Full Moon Festival and the Ancestor Worship Festival. In 2009, the associations spent nearly 20 million VND to award nearly 300 excellent students at all levels, not to mention local sponsors who helped the Learning Promotion Association with nearly ten million VND.

Mr. Sum also advised the Commune Veterans Association to organize a large circle to help children of veterans in difficult circumstances, especially victims of Agent Orange. In early 2010, the Tuong Son Veterans Association had over 4.5 million, the principal was deposited in a savings fund, and the interest was used to create a scholarship fund.

Mr. Sum also takes care of the commune's Community Learning Center, coordinates with the government committee, mass organizations to open 18 vocational training classes for members of the Farmers' Association, Women's Association, and Youth Union to transfer science and technology of crops and livestock to members. Builds a legal bookcase. Party Secretary Tran Trung Tuyen said: "Mr. Sum is the one who initiated the drumbeat for studying lessons in 2006, the earliest in the district. In the work of promoting learning, he is enthusiastic and does everything he does. In mass mobilization work, he is an experienced person".

Mr. Tran Dang Sum was awarded a certificate of merit by the Central Association for the Promotion of Education, and twice by the Provincial Association for the Promotion of Education. He was elected as a delegate to attend the Provincial Congress for the Promotion of Education. The Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department invited him to report on his experiences to build the movement for the promotion of education.

Sy Thuan