STEM classrooms "nurture" creative passion in the learning environment.
With the goal of improving the quality of education and fostering scientific creativity among young people, the Vietnam National Energy and Industry Corporation (Petrovietnam) has launched the “STEM Innovation Petrovietnam” program, aiming to build 100 STEM practice rooms in 34 provinces and cities nationwide. The program is contributing to nurturing the creative passions of students in Nghe An province.
STEM Innovation Petrovietnam - The largest educational initiative launched by a business.
To meet the country's demand for high-quality human resources in the new technological era, stemming from an idea by General Secretary To Lam, the Vietnam National Energy and Industry Corporation (Petrovietnam) has pioneered the implementation of the "STEM Innovation Petrovietnam" program. With the goal of establishing three STEM classrooms in each province/city by the end of 2025, built to international standards (two for high schools and one for junior high schools), the program aims to connect localities and internationally, initially with the education and training system of Singapore. This program is considered the largest-scale educational project ever initiated by a business enterprise, possessing strategic importance in training science and technology personnel and contributing to the formation of a new generation of knowledgeable energy citizens in Vietnam.
On September 21, 2025, the program was personally launched by General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and other Party and State leaders at the 50th anniversary celebration of Petrovietnam. This is a significant milestone, marking a shift from a grassroots STEM movement to a standardized, interconnected, and nationally strategic STEM program, implemented rapidly and sustainably by businesses in partnership with the public education system.
As of December 2nd, 2025, 100 rooms have completed surveys and been installed. The deadline for completion is December 31st, 2025 at the latest, in line with the plan."Rapid - Standardized - Sustainable", "One Model - One Quality", ensuring there is no disparity between localities.
This is not just a high-tech class, but...miniature research environment, where students gain comprehensive experience across various fields.AI, IoT, Robotics, Digital Transformation, Smart Classroom, thereby developing research, design, experimentation, data processing, and critical thinking skills.
STEM labs ignite the spirit of research in the land of learning.
Among the 34 provinces and cities implementing the model, Nghe An is one of the first to adopt it, with 3 STEM Innovation Petrovietnam classrooms located at Kim Lien High School, Thanh Luong Secondary School, and Huynh Thuc Khang High School, each with an investment of approximately 3.5 billion VND and an area of 80-100m2.
The STEM room at Kim Lien High School holds special significance: a gift from General Secretary To Lam to the school in the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh on the occasion of his birthday. After more than 7 months of operation, this space has become a focal point of learning and innovative creativity. While previously students mainly experimented on their own with homemade materials, now they can freely realize their ideas with the support of modern equipment, machinery, and professional programming software.
Tran Thi Thanh HuyenA student from class 10A1 at Kim Lien High School, one of the school's passionate researchers and robot assemblers, shared enthusiastically: "When we first entered 10th grade, we were overwhelmed and surprised by this STEM room. Entering it, we felt very excited and eager to participate in hands-on activities, experiences, and assembling robots. I felt very enthusiastic. Furthermore, this STEM room plays a very important role in developing and guiding our future careers, as well as developing soft skills such as teamwork, logical thinking, and many other skills."
At Thanh Luong Secondary School and Huynh Thuc Khang High School, as soon as the STEM lab was completed and engineers were demonstrating how to operate the equipment, students eagerly came to experience it. As the first representatives to "get their hands on" the robotics system, IoT sensors, and internationally standardized programming software, Pham Tran Anh Tuan, a student in class 11T4 at Huynh Thuc Khang High School, shared: "I programmed this robot because I've loved assembling things since I was little. In the future, I want to become an engineer related to information technology, so I feel that doing these things is very practical, fun, and useful for my future." Meanwhile, Bui Ngoc Diep, a student in class 9A1 at Thanh Luong Secondary School, felt honored and proud to study in such a well-equipped environment and expressed her high expectations for the science and engineering competitions she and her classmates will participate in in the near future.
As the person in charge of the STEM lab at Huynh Thuc Khang High School, Mr. Nguyen Duy Cuong believes that having a modern STEM lab like this makes teaching and learning much easier. Previously, teachers mainly had to produce their own recycled STEM kits, but now they have modern STEM kits that closely follow the 2018 General Education Program, meet the requirements of learning by doing, and are in line with the trends of the fourth industrial revolution.
Expectations from STEM education's "nuclear satellite"
Nghe An was the first province to develop a provincial-level scientific research project on "Applying the STEM education model to preschool and primary schools" starting in 2021. Building on this foundation, Petrovietnam's donation of modern STEM classrooms further facilitates the locality's efforts to promote educational innovation, expand research opportunities, foster creativity, and provide career guidance in science and technology for students.
Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa, Deputy Director of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, expressed his appreciation: “This is a meaningful and practical investment initiative. Modern STEM classrooms will open up new learning spaces, inspire creativity in students, and help schools continue to effectively implement STEM education, serving educational innovation in the digital age.”
Representing Petrovietnam, Mr. Tran Quang Dung - Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Group's Party Committee - emphasized: "We expect that the STEM rooms will encourage exploration, experimentation, and nurture the aspirations for scientific research among students, especially in a studious region like Nghe An."
Petrovietnam's 100 STEM Innovation practice rooms are considered "core satellites," a model for deployment in clusters, specialized regions, and interconnected local and international levels, creating a foundation for nationwide replication, in line with the spirit of Resolution 57 and Resolution 71 - two key resolutions aimed at breakthroughs in science and technology and the development of high-quality human resources in the new era.
From these labs, a generation of young people is being nurtured – not just learning science, but doing science; not just using technology, but researching to create technology. This is the most vivid proof that investing in STEM today is investing in the national R&D workforce of tomorrow.