HÀ NỘI — Various activities and initiatives are organised across the country to celebrate Việt Nam's Youth Month, an annual festivity that takes place in March to celebrate the founding of the Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union (HCMCYU) on March 26.

The month-long event is dedicated to promoting and empowering the country's young people, who are considered the future of Việt Nam.

The goal of Tháng Thanh Niên, as it is called in Vietnamese, is to encourage young people to engage in constructive activities, develop leadership skills, and contribute to the development of their communities and the nation as a whole.

The year 2023 is designated by the HCMCYU as the "Year of digital transformation for Youth Union activities."

In Khánh Hòa Province the youth union is actively promoting a strong pioneering spirit, taking control of technology, and effectively applying digital transformation in Youth Union work.

According to Chu Minh Phương, Deputy Secretary of the Nha Trang City Youth Union, technology was applied in registration for delegates in their 13th congress to great success.

This is the first project that applies new technology in a large congress, which was designed and implemented by the members and Nha Trang Youth, and is a premise for expanding digital transformation activities in the future.

Cam Lâm Youth Union members scanning QR codes to access the data about Gạc Ma Memorial Park. — VNA/VNS Photo Phan Sáu

Since the end of 2022, the city's Youth Union widely implemented the programme "Nha Trang Youth pioneers digital transformation" - Cashless payment.

As a result, 100 per cent of Union members have bank accounts and have installed cashless payment applications; 80 per cent of members, students 15 years old and above have bank accounts and have installed cashless payment applications; 5 per cent of businesses in each locality have registered and operated QR code payment points.

Nguyễn Thị Quỳnh, 26, said that she used to have the habit of using cash to buy goods. However, thanks to the Youth Union, she has switched to a cashless payment service and found it very convenient. With just a phone connected to the internet or an ATM card, she can make quick payments at many stores.

At the same time, 100 per cent of the city's Union bases send and receive official letters via the website thanhdoannhatrang.org.vn. This website is created and controlled by the Youth Start-up Club of the Union. After the trial period (until the end of March 2023), this website will be officially launched throughout the city.

According to Phương, this activity aims to ensure that all official letters can reach the Union bases at the same time. Based on the announcement date on the website, the units can evaluate and rank the completion of their work, helping them to be flexible in implementing their tasks.

Digital transformation has also been strongly applied in the activities of youth organisations, such as organising large-scale programmes and games using QR codes by various youth organisations. Young members of the Youth Union will also experience digitalisation with "Digital Library for Kids," converting book content into radio programmes.

Phương shared that their unit is planning to teach programming and create a Robot Contest for members who have a passion for technology in the near future.

The "Digital Transformation in Publicity and Promotion of Khanh Hoa Tourism" project is a prime example of digital transformation work. The unit has installed QR code boards for famous places and scenic spots in the province so that residents and tourists can scan the code to get complete information about the location.

Nguyễn Đức Hải Quân, a 10th-grade student from Trần Bình Trọng Secondary School, Cam Lâm, Khánh Hòa, who was present at the Gạc Ma Memorial Area, said that there was no need to search far as the website of the tourist site ran a complete documentary, which Quân was confident that after watching, he could explain it to his friends.

Kiên Giang teacher honoured for Youth Union work

In southern Kiên Giang Province, Nguyễn Thanh Phong, 31, a teacher at An Biên High School in An Biên District, has just received the Lý Tự Trọng Award from the HCMCYU on this occasion.

This is a prestigious honour awarded to Secretaries of Youth Union Branches, Deputy Secretaries, grassroots-level Youth Union Secretaries, and Youth Union officials who have outstanding achievements in studying, working, and serving.

After graduating from Cần Thơ University of Education in 2014, Phong returned to work at An Biên High School. Since then, during his teaching career, Phong has always been searching for new and interesting ways to support his teaching, especially to make his lessons more easily comprehensible and less boring for his students.

With the school's agreement, starting from the 2016-2017 academic year, Phong began to apply the utilities of Google Drive to create a learning space to promote the self-learning and self-reviewing abilities of his students. In the 2017-2018 academic year, he introduced the technique of using ZipGrade multiple-choice grading software on mobile phones to improve the efficiency of the assessment process.

In the following three academic years, Phong had three provincial-level initiatives, including discovering and fostering students' creative capacity through STEM education in Physics, approaching the new General Education Program (2019 - 2020 academic year); exploiting and using Mozaik 3D digital learning materials combined with Google Classroom tools in teaching to develop learners' abilities (2020 - 2021 academic year); exploiting Google's applications in managing electronic learning records and assessing students, adapting to online teaching (2021 - 2022 academic year).

Phong's initiative of exploiting Google's applications in managing electronic learning records and assessing students, adapting to online teaching, has been effectively applied at An Biên High School and then replicated in other high schools in and outside the province.

The highlight of this initiative is to stimulate students' learning interest, promote self-learning and self-determination abilities of students, help students self-evaluate their progress, detect their mistakes and limitations, and improve their learning. The initiative also helps teachers to give timely feedback and encourage and motivate students to learn, thereby improving the quality of the subject.

After applying the initiative, the percentage of excellent students at An Biên High School reached 42.4 per cent (an increase of 10 per cent), and the number of students who achieved good grades also increased.— VNS