Hanoi, March 2 (VNA) - General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam has written an article, in which he emphasised the importance of lifelong learning.
The Vietnam News Agency (VNA) respectfully introduces a translation of the article:
LIFELONG LEARNING
TO LAM
General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee
Lifelong learning aims to dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to sacrifice for the common good, and to become useful persons for society.
The scientific and technological revolution has been taking place strongly on a global scale, resulting in great changes in all aspects of social life, posing new requirements, and creating new demands, new tasks, and new ways of thinking and acting for every Vietnamese citizen, especially for officials and Party members within the political system in the process of building and safeguarding the socialist Fatherland. It is essential to seize opportunities, take shortcuts, and usher the country into an era of development and prosperity, standing shoulder to shoulder with world powers across the five continents. To successfully fulfil these requirements, tasks and responsibilities in the new period, lifelong learning to dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to sacrifice for the common good, and to become useful persons is an urgent necessity for every individual and citizen, especially for officials and personnel within the political system.
Lifelong learning is not a new issue. Immediately after the success of the August Revolution, President Ho Chi Minh launched a nationwide campaign in the entire people and army to eradicate illiteracy, recommending that: “… If we want to know, we must emulate to learn. Learning has no limits. We must learn continuously to keep progressing. The more progress we make, the more we will recognise the need to learn further.” “As society progresses, work increases, and machinery becomes more sophisticated. If we refuse to learn, we will lag behind, and lagging behind means being eliminated and eliminating ourselves.”
Throughout various stages of the revolutionary cause, especially during the period of "Doi moi" (Renewal), our Party has always paid due attention and encouraged lifelong learning and the building of a nation into a learning society. The policy of lifelong learning has been mentioned in many key Resolutions, Directives, and Conclusions of the Party, such as the Resolution of the 7th Party Central Committee’s 4th meeting on further reforming education and training; the Resolution of the 8th Party Central Committee’s 2nd meeting on strategic orientations for the development of education and training during the period of industrialisation and modernisation, and tasks until 2000; Conclusion No. 14-KL/TW dated July 26, 2002 of the 9th Party Central Committee's 6th plenary on the continued implementation of the Resolution of the 8th Party Central Committee’s 2nd meeting; as well as Resolutions of the 10th and 11th National Party Congresses, the 11th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW, dated November 4, 2013, on “fundamental and comprehensive reforms of education and training to meet the requirements of industrialisation and modernisation under a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration.” The 13th National Party Congress's Resolution also highlights the importance of “promoting the building of a learning society and fostering lifelong learning because “a revolutionist must learn throughout his life, learning from books, from one another, and from the people; and the “ocean of knowledge” is vast and endless.
Realising the Party’s viewpoints and policies, the building of a learning society and the promotion of lifelong learning have become not only a movement but also a genuine need and a cultural practice, achieving significant results. A unified national education system has been established, spanning from pre-school education to postgraduate training. Educational institutions and training forms have been diversified, creating learning opportunities for people of all ages. The method of connecting different educational levels have improved, while the educational network has expanded to all areas and regions. Educational campaigns promoting learning and talent development have become increasingly substantive across localities, and a healthy educational environment where learning is closely linked to practical application has been developed and integrated into campaigns to eradicate hunger, reduce poverty, and build cultural families and communities. In many clans, villages, and communes, learning emulation movements have been developing strongly. The spirit of lifelong learning has gradually become embedded in every family, residential area, educational institution, area and region. Numerous exemplary individuals have emerged, including farmers, workers, officials, and teachers who actively pursue self-study, innovation, and creativity in their work and daily life, making valuable contributions to their communities. Many have applied scientific and technical advances, developed innovative solutions with high practical values, and significantly improved productivity and living standards. Elderly individuals, through self-study and personal research, have applied their knowledge and experiences to production, helping their families escape poverty and contributing to the building of new-style cultural life and local socio-economic development. There are also inspiring models and bright examples demonstrating that it is never too late to learn. Some individuals, even at the age of seventy or older, continue their studies at the postgraduate level and pursue doctoral research, driven by a desire to set an example for younger generations and to encourage their descendants to embrace lifelong learning. “Learning to work, to be a good person, to serve as an official, to serve the organisation, the class, the people, the Fatherland, and humanity” - this spirit has been a crucial factor contributing to Vietnam’s remarkable achievements after nearly 40 years of Doi moi.
Beside the achievements, the implementation of the lifelong learning policy still faces certain shortcomings and limitations. Training and further training have often prioritised quantity over quality. The self-learning, practical learning, and lifelong learning of officials and Party members have not yielded desired results. There remains a tendency to pursue learning as a formality, prioritising degrees over practical needs, while some hesitate to embrace challenges in education, lacking the determination to delve deeply into knowledge and conquer new scientific peaks.
The limitations in professional expertise and competence, individualism and over-reliance on experience among some officials and Party members have affected the quality of the performance of public duties and services for the people. These issues hinder the willingness to dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, and dare to take responsibility. They also exterminate the momentum for innovation and creativity, leaving individuals without the necessary knowledge foundation and confidence to propose and implement breakthrough initiatives. A section of officials, civil servants, public employees, and workers remain complacent with the knowledge acquired from formal education and training institutions or pursue further studies merely to meet promotion requirements, rather than actively engaging in continuous learning to enhance their expertise, management capacity, knowledge, integration skills and adaptability. Another section exhibits a reluctance to learn, lacking the concept of regular and lifelong learning, so they become backward, conservative, and unable to adapt and keep pace with the rapid, ever-evolving requirements of the Industrial Revolutions 4.0 and X.0.
The country is standing in front of new opportunities and chances to rise up and stand shoulder to shoulder with the world as per the wish of President Ho Chi Minh and the aspiration of the entire nation. Our Party has no interest other than advancing the country toward a society of prosperity, with well-being, freedom, and happiness for the people. Now more than ever, we need officials with groundbreaking mindsets, visions, and actions, who dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, and dare to sacrifice, especially in implementing the revolution to streamline the organisational apparatus, making it leaner, stronger, and more efficient, as well as in executing Resolution No. 57-NQ/TW, dated December 22, 2024, of the Politburo, which focuses on breakthroughs in the development of science and technology, innovation, and national digital transformation. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 is taking place at an unprecedented scale and speed, driven by the rapid development of the knowledge economy, digital transformation, digital economy and digital society. As a result, a significant portion of today's school curricula may become outdated within just a few years. Moreover, many widely adopted concepts today did not even exist 10 years ago, and an estimated 65% of current jobs will be replaced by technologies in the coming years. In a world of complexity, instability, and unpredictable changes, knowledge must be continuously updated. With longer life expectancies and extended retirement periods, the elderly are increasingly compelled to learn and stay active to avoid lagging behind in a rapidly evolving modern society.
In this context, lifelong learning has become a rule of life, enabling individuals to recognise, adapt to and not to lag behind amid the world’s rapid transformations, enrich their intelligence, perfect their personality, and overcome difficulties and challenges to progress and position themselves in a modern society. More importantly, this is the vital key to enhancing intellectual standards, training the workforce, and boosting socio-economic development. It is the only path and the inevitable direction for every nation to ensure prosperity and sustainable growth. Lifelong learning helps every member of society to have enough conditions and opportunities to continuously improve themselves, enhance the quality of life for themselves, their families, clans, villages, wards, communes and the whole country under the leadership of the Party, on the path to become a strong, democratic, fair, civilised, and socialist country with rich people.
![robostics.jpg](https://mediaen.vietnamplus.vn/images/475c0da714738b41b21187f7d3315dec90335a439581f70a988b9897205f2483e04f0e2f2bc1d92968762e3cbba8469c/robostics.jpg "In the FIRST Tech Challenge Vietnam Robot Competion 2024-2025 themed "Into the Deep". (Photo: VNA)")
Only by practically promoting lifelong learning can we cultivate a wealth of ideas, solutions, and initiatives to address urgent demands of the reality and new, unprecedented problems; to thoroughly overcome "bottlenecks" in policies and mechanisms as well as formalistic demonstrations in self-criticism and criticism, and eliminate stagnation and hesitation in dealing with affairs in localities, agencies and units. Lifelong learning will create a contingent of courageous cadres, who rightly understand objective rules, proactively think and master their thoughts, and dare to speak out issues emerging from the reality, from the life, from the renewal requirements and the aspirations of the people. Lifelong learning will create a contingent of officials who have the determination and dare to hold accountable for their work results, spheres and sectors they are in charge, dare to admit mistakes and correct them, and take responsibility before the people and the Party. Such individuals will possess the integrity to resist undue privileges and, if necessary, sacrifice personal interests for the Party, the Fatherland, and the people. By doing so, we will successfully build a contingent of officials with qualifications, competence, good virtues, and aspirations to rise up and develop, who dare to think, dare to do and dare to take responsibility for their decisions to realise revolutionary tasks and create breakthroughs for the benefits of the people and the nation's development.
Building a learning society and lifelong learning can only be successful when each citizen is aware of his or her own responsibility for lifelong self-study; each cadre and party member is always aware that lifelong learning is a revolutionary task with a serious attitude and a high sense of self-awareness. Through lifelong learning, we can be aware of our responsibility for building and defending the Fatherland in each specific period and time; have the ability to master and organise our life; constantly progress, have better health and quality of life; understand, preserve and contribute to building national cultural traditions; believe in the future of the country, in the Party's sound guidelines and leadership, and have the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country. Each citizen needs to constantly study political theory, professional knowledge, professional skills, working methods and experiences, and the ability to coordinate in a collective to improve discipline, increase labour productivity and promote the overall strength. Every cadre and party member needs to learn the qualities of a revolutionary cadre, learn from books, learn from each other and learn from the people; continually self-study, self-update new knowledge, actively participate in the "digital learning" movement, improve scientific-technological and digital knowledge; actively disseminate and encourage relatives, families and clans to self-study for life. Through lifelong learning, we can fulfil all tasks assigned by the Party, the revolution and the people.
Each party committee, socio-political organisation, and professional association need to clearly recognise the main goal of lifelong learning as developing socialist people, thereby determining lifelong learning contents for cadres, Party members, and members in combination with launching emulation, evaluation, commendation, and reward. The Party and State will soon summarise, evaluate and research to promulgate regulations and procedures, renew viewpoints on assessment, selection and planning of cadres, in order to build a complete, clean, strong apparatus wholeheartedly serving the People; protect cadres who are ready to pioneer, ready to "break through barriers" for common interests. It is necessary to continue to perfect the education system in an open, flexible, and interconnected direction, creating lifelong learning opportunities for all citizens and implementing training based on the needs of the labour market. It is a must to take specific solutions to raise social awareness of the role and significance of lifelong learning and its contributions to improving the quality and competitiveness of national human resources. It is necessary to monitor, inspect, and supervise the pilot implementation of innovation proposals; proactively detect emerging issues, promptly encourage, support, and remove difficulties and obstacles, or review, adjust, and make decisions appropriate to the actual situation. There should be a policy of exempting responsibility for cadres who pilot projects or jobs but whose results fail to meet or only partially meet the set goals, or in case of risks and losses due to objective reasons.
We are living in an era when knowledge and understanding will help people maximise their potential to take advantage of opportunities and effectively respond to challenges for sustainable development. It is also an era when the volume of humanity knowledge increases exponentially every day. Only when the entire Party, the entire people, the entire army, along with every family and individual, effectively implement lifelong learning, build a contingent of cadres who dare to do, dare to speak, dare to take responsibility and dare to sacrifice, can we firmly step into a new era - an era of development and prosperity under the leadership of the Party./.
