On the afternoon of June 24, at the Forum "Vietnamese Youth are self-reliant, confident, self-reliant, self-strengthening, and nationally proud" within the framework of the 13th National Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, term 2026 - 2031, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan, Youth Assistant, Mass Mobilization Department, Political Department of Military Region 9, shared practical experiences from Youth Union work and youth movements in the army.
If you want to guide young people, you must accompany young people
Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan said that building a generation of self-reliant, confident, self-reliant, and self-strengthening youth needs to start from propaganda and education work.
In the current context, young people grow up in a digital environment, have conditions to access knowledge quickly, have open thinking and the need to assert themselves is increasingly strong. However, this is also a generation heavily affected by social networks, multi-dimensional information flows and unselective trends.
This requires the Youth Union organization to continue to innovate approaches, orientations and education, ensuring both maintaining core values and being suitable for the characteristics of young people in the digital age.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan, to educate young people effectively, it must start from understanding young people. What young people need is not only development opportunities but also ideals to strive for, belief to dedicate themselves and goals to contribute.
When there are right ideals, aspirations to rise up and clear goals, young people will have the motivation to overcome difficulties and not easily be shaken by negative external impacts.
Therefore, political, ideological and revolutionary moral education has always been identified as a key task in the youth work of the Army.
Citing practical evidence, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan said that in the past term, Youth Union organizations throughout the army have organized more than 35,600 seminars, forums, and stages to create an environment for union members and youth to exchange, share, consolidate trust, and arouse the aspiration to contribute and responsibility to the Fatherland.
However, according to him, there are still educational contents that are not really attractive to a part of the youth. From there, he draws an important lesson: "To educate young people effectively, first of all, you must understand young people; to orient young people, you must accompany young people".
Growing up through challenges and dedication
Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan believes that it is necessary to arouse the aspiration to contribute through practical action. According to him, young people do not grow up from words of encouragement but grow up from assigned responsibilities; do not grow up in ease but grow up through challenges and dedication.
Bravery is tempered when young people face difficulties; cultivated when they dare to take on difficult tasks; affirmed when they know how to put the interests of the collective and the country above personal interests.
Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan affirmed that the aspiration to contribute is not formed naturally but is nurtured from ideals, beliefs and tempered through actions. This is also the basis for continuing to promote the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics, and style among young people, contributing to building a class of young people with a sense of studying, working, and civic responsibility to the country.
At the forum, Lieutenant Colonel Vo Thanh Nhan proposed 3 key groups of solutions including: Continuing to strongly innovate propaganda and education in the direction of putting youth at the center; effectively implementing the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics, and style; and at the same time creating more practical environments for youth to contribute, grow, and affirm themselves.
