Throughout his life devoted to the revolutionary cause, General Vo Nguyen Giap had many years of attachment to education , "teacher Vo Nguyen Giap was affirmed not only as a simple historian but also as a passionate lawyer, always defending the righteousness of history" (1) . Thoroughly understanding President Ho Chi Minh's ideology of "putting public service first", General Vo Nguyen Giap became the "Elder Brother" of the "Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army" (the predecessor of the current Vietnam People's Army), building revolutionary bases, opening political and military training classes, and establishing the Vietnam revolutionary armed forces. The General's political and military career was closely and intimately connected with the cause of education through his activities of writing articles, books, preparing lectures and directly teaching and training many generations inside and outside the army. Therefore, not only is he “a man who made history”, the first and only Commander-in-Chief to date, General Vo Nguyen Giap is also “the number one teacher” of the Vietnamese revolutionary armed forces. The unique features in the General’s educational ideology have left a deep impression, with long-term theoretical and practical value for improving the quality of political teaching, building a contingent of cadres and soldiers who are steadfast in politics and ideology, meeting the requirements of defending the Fatherland in the new era.
Unique features in the educational ideology of General Vo Nguyen Giap
First, the unique features in the educational goals of General Vo Nguyen Giap
Discussing the educational goals, in his speech at the Ceremony to honor the heroes of the education sector on the occasion of Vietnam Teachers' Day, November 20, 1995, General Vo Nguyen Giap repeatedly emphasized and affirmed the important role of the education sector, especially general education, considering it "a matter of strategic significance, an extremely important task" (2) in the national education system and for the development of the future of the nation. The General affirmed: "The important and urgent issue now is to concretize the above-mentioned goals in the general education sector by conducting a comprehensive educational process that closely combines education in schools with education in society and family in a synchronous and harmonious manner in terms of ethics, intellect, labor education, physical education and aesthetics" (3) . This viewpoint represents the most prominent feature in General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology regarding the determination of comprehensive educational goals, developing people in terms of intelligence, morality, physical strength, aesthetics and capacity to meet the development requirements of the country and the revolutionary cause.
According to General Vo Nguyen Giap, to concretize the goal of comprehensive development of the young generation of Vietnam, first of all, it is necessary to educate them in political ideology and ethics, that is, to educate them in patriotism, loyalty to communist ideals, civic responsibility, and readiness to participate in the work of building and defending the Fatherland. The General pointed out: “It is necessary to improve the quality of political, ideological and ethical education for children. Depending on their age and level of education, foster socialist patriotism, loyalty to communist ideals, educate them in the awareness and duties of citizens, readiness to actively participate in the work of building socialism and defending the Fatherland, awareness and habit of obeying the laws of the socialist state, respecting the rules of collective life” (4) .
In addition to political and ideological education, the General always attached importance to basic knowledge education for students, considering it "a must be done and done immediately, done well" (5) . The General requested: "General schools need to equip students with basic knowledge of nature, technology, economics , and society at a relatively complete, basic, modern, Vietnamese general education level; both suitable for immediate practical needs and creating the ability for long-term development" (6) . Along with providing basic knowledge, the General emphasized the need to educate about labor, production, career guidance, physical education and aesthetics, considering these as important factors to help students develop comprehensively, love the truth, respect reason, and preserve and promote cultural values and national traditions. This is a comprehensive viewpoint, consistent with objective reality and the long-term development trend of the country's education. It is not only the fundamental ideology guiding educational practice at that time, but also the long-term development orientation for educational goals in the current period, demonstrating the unique features in the General's educational ideology.
Second, the unique features in the educational principles of General Vo Nguyen Giap
Unifying theory and practice, learning goes hand in hand with practice, education must be closely linked with practice, originating from the development requirements of the country, the development of the times is the educational principle inherited and developed throughout the educational ideology of General Vo Nguyen Giap. The General affirmed: “Imparting Uncle Ho's ideology: Education and training are linked with socio-economic goals, learning is linked with practice; training basic knowledge is linked with career guidance, vocational training; learning is linked with production and business; schools are linked with production facilities, general schools need to have school workshops, school gardens...” (7) and “bringing career guidance and vocational training to schools, from kindergarten, general school to college, university in the direction of “Learning while doing, working while learning” ” (8) . Thus, it can be seen that the educational principle according to the General's viewpoint cannot be separated between theory and practice, knowledge and practice, school and vocational training facility, production and business facility, aiming to train people with the ability to study, work, adapt, ready to receive and complete well the tasks in any field or area of the Fatherland.
To adapt to the development of the country, the era and the cause of innovation, openness and international integration, the General emphasized the principle of lifelong learning and the essential role of building a "learning society". According to the General: "We must create a large socialized and educational movement: everyone learns, every family learns, all economic and social organizations learn , making our society truly a learning society, a creative society, our people truly a studious people , learning regularly, learning forever, learning for life, becoming "A wise nation" as President Ho Chi Minh wished" (9) . This viewpoint of the General is like an encouragement to the spirit of continuous learning, learning, learning more, learning forever, self-learning, contributing to building a "learning society", bringing our country to truly occupy the pinnacle of human intelligence, which is an important driving force of the country in the new era, the era of the current Vietnamese nation's rise.
Third, the unique features in the educational method of General Vo Nguyen Giap
The core characteristic of General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology is the scientific and artistic educational method, closely linked to practice, innovation and student-centered orientation. The General often mentioned the issue of innovation in educational methods, considering it a fundamental and core issue of the country's education. The General wrote: "The task of general schools is to conduct comprehensive education... The problem is knowing how to choose the content and teaching and learning methods appropriate to each type of subject to ensure the achievement of training goals as issued by the Party and State resolutions" (10) , as well as "Along with improving organization and management, it is necessary to invest and focus on actively directing the implementation of innovation in teaching and learning content and methods" (11) .
General Vo Nguyen Giap's unique thinking on education is also expressed through the viewpoint that educational methods must maximize the initiative, positivity, creativity and self-study and research capacity of learners. The General affirmed: "An education system aiming at the goal of building a society must be an open education system, oriented towards the central object of learners, responsible for creating conditions and an environment for every individual learner to be equipped with an education that is both imbued with national cultural identity and modern in knowledge, science and technology..." (12) . Thus, the General's viewpoint has shown the important role of the educational environment, at the same time, well solving the fundamental relationship in teacher-student education on the basis of science and practice, creating all possibilities and the best conditions for learners to form the ability to think independently, solve problems and adapt flexibly to modern society.
General Vo Nguyen Giap said, "If there were no war, I would still be a teacher" and indeed, the General truly embodied the most noble values and qualities of a teacher. In teaching practice, the General believed that it was necessary to apply a variety of methods, such as problem-based teaching, using visual aids, pictures, maps, diagrams, telling historical stories, organizing practical activities, group discussions, promoting students' interest and self-study spirit. The General always focused on determining the focus of the lesson, arousing independence, stimulating interest in learning and combining moral education, intelligence, and patriotic traditions in each lecture; flexibly applying language, images, poetry, and storytelling to make the lesson lively, easy to understand, easy to remember, and suitable for each group of learners (13) .
The educational ideology significance of General Vo Nguyen Giap for political teaching of political commissars of the Vietnam People's Army today
Firstly, the educational ideology of General Vo Nguyen Giap is a solid theoretical foundation, the basis for clearly defining the position, role , goals, content, form and method of organizing political teaching of political officers in the Vietnam People's Army.
In the process of building the armed forces, the General always emphasized that political and ideological factors are the core, having a decisive meaning to the strength and maturity of the army. The General once affirmed: "In building the army, political work is considered the soul of the revolutionary army" (14) ; "in training the army, we must take politics as the root, starting from the cadres, gradually reaching all the team members... We must make our army truly a revolutionary army of the people, an invincible army" (15) ; "we must take political education and ideological leadership as the focus" (16) ... The above comments of the General emphasize the significance of political education and teaching in the army and are verified through historical practice.
To effectively promote that particularly important role, General Vo Nguyen Giap clearly defined the goals, content, form and methods of political teaching in the army. According to the General, the central goal of political education and teaching is to foster patriotism, fighting spirit, class awareness, and strengthen faith in the victory of the revolution; train steadfast political will and determination to overcome challenges for cadres and soldiers; at the same time, strengthen the nature of the working class, close relationship with the people, affirm the absolute leadership role of the Party in the army, ensure that the army is always loyal to the Party and the people, ready to fight for national independence and socialism. The General emphasized: "Political work must educate soldiers to firmly grasp and correctly apply the Party's guidelines and policies" (17) ; "political education is aimed at strengthening the class stance of soldiers" (18) ; "enhance the fighting spirit of the troops and their confidence in the victory of the resistance war, and have the spirit of "self-reliance in fighting in times of danger" (19) ; "train each soldier to have a deep and firm people's and mass viewpoint" (20) .
According to the General, the content of political teaching in the army is very comprehensive, including: "Educating the purpose and nature of war, the Party's and Government's guidelines and policies for the army, raising the level of awareness, training the fighting spirit, consolidating solidarity inside and outside the army" (21) . In particular, it is necessary to focus on educating Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, the Party's viewpoints and guidelines, the State's laws and policies; revolutionary tasks and the army's tasks; socialist patriotism, proletarian internationalism; national traditions, Party and army traditions; comradeship, solidarity with the people; revolutionary vigilance, identifying the enemy's plots and tricks; overcoming negative and backward manifestations.
Regarding the form and method of political teaching, the General required that it must be diverse, flexible, linked to reality, promoting the combined strength of organizations, forces, means and the responsibility of each individual; must be carried out regularly, continuously, persistently, taking advantage of every moment, especially in difficult periods. The General emphasized: "We must make political work a mass work, with everyone participating to promote strong effectiveness, we must carry out political work continuously in all cases; we must remember that the time when political work is most needed is also the most difficult time, when the troops are fighting in difficult situations, and marching is tiring..." (22) .
Second, General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology emphasized that political teaching must closely follow reality , promote the subjective factors of cadres and soldiers, and meet the requirements of building a politically strong Vietnam People's Army in the new period.
General Vo Nguyen Giap always emphasized the principle of unifying theory with practice, considering this a decisive factor in the effectiveness of political teaching in the army. According to the General, political teaching does not stop at imparting theory but needs to focus on training political qualities, moral qualities, sense of responsibility, fighting spirit and the ability to apply knowledge to practical work and combat. The General affirmed: "Doing political work by only motivating ideology is not enough, but must also go into solving specific organizational problems and tactical requirements. It is necessary to combine ideological leadership with organizational leadership and solve tactical requirements" (23) . Thus, political commissars need to innovate teaching methods, link theory with practice, strengthen guidance, exchange, practice, take sense of responsibility, proactive spirit and ability to apply as criteria to evaluate learning outcomes, meet the requirements of training tasks and combat readiness of the unit.
The General emphasized the need to promote the spirit of determination, positivity, initiative, and creativity of the troops as the center through vivid forms such as: letters of encouragement, telegrams of inquiry, summarizing and drawing lessons after each battle and campaign. The General wrote: "Since the first phase until now, there have been many times when difficulties seemed impossible to overcome, but thanks to maintaining determination, we have overcome them. Therefore, the biggest lesson of the second phase is the lesson of maintaining determination, the victory of the second phase is the victory of maintaining determination" (24) . These orientations not only contribute to improving the quality of political teaching but also create motivation to innovate thinking, educational methods, and build a contingent of cadres and soldiers of the Vietnam People's Army who are steadfast in politics and ideology, meeting the requirements of protecting the Fatherland in the new situation.
Third, General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology emphasizes the role and responsibility of political commissars in innovating the content, form, and methods of political teaching, meeting the requirements of current military building.
In the thoughts of General Vo Nguyen Giap, the political commissar holds a central position in the political and ideological education of the army, and is the bridge between the Party's policies and guidelines and each cadre and soldier in the unit. According to the General, the political commissar is not only the person who conveys the Party's policies and guidelines, but is also the center of solidarity, an example of qualities, mettle, sense of responsibility and fighting spirit for the entire unit. According to the General: "The political commissar is the person who educates the solidarity of the unit, makes the good brothers responsible for guiding the less good brothers, the active soldiers responsible for attracting everyone to enthusiastically complete all the tasks of the team, makes the cadres and soldiers, despite being of different ethnicities, classes and ages, love each other like blood brothers" (25) . Thus, it can be seen that the particularly important role of the political commissar is the person directly responsible for political and ideological education work, regularly grasping, orienting, and promptly resolving ideological issues arising among cadres and soldiers, ensuring that all soldiers always maintain their stance and viewpoints, and are absolutely loyal to the Party, the people, and the socialist regime.
General Vo Nguyen Giap especially valued the exemplary role of political commissars in all educational, training, and political activities in the unit. Political commissars must be people who are close to reality, close to, listen to the thoughts and aspirations of the troops, proactively detect, fight, and prevent deviations in ideology, ethics, and lifestyle. In all circumstances, political commissars must be steadfast, courageous, and flexible in handling situations, and at the same time know how to motivate, encourage, and promote the spirit of solidarity and determination in the unit. The General emphasized: “Before each battle, the political commissar holds a unit meeting to clearly outline the goals, state the conditions for victory and difficulties to encourage the unit's spirit. When facing dangerous steps, the political commissar recounts examples of sacrifice, reminds everyone to do their duty properly and sets an example himself. After each successful battle as well as each difficult one, there is a review, reward, and discipline, making the troops maintain their morale, not being arrogant in victory, not being discouraged in defeat” (26) .
The General always requires political commissars to constantly self-study, self-train, improve their political theory, organizational capacity, working methods, update new knowledge, creatively apply Ho Chi Minh's thought and the Party's viewpoints to the unit's practice. Political commissars need to proactively innovate the content and methods of political education, closely combine theory with practice, traditional education with modern education, promote democracy, arouse the self-awareness and creativity of each soldier, making an important contribution to building a strong army in politics and ideology, as a basis for improving overall quality, combat strength, and firmly protecting the Fatherland in all situations.
Fourth, General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology is a guideline for political commissars to fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints and protect the Party's ideological foundation in the new situation.
According to the General, political teaching is not simply about imparting theory but must be closely linked to practical tasks, focusing on training political qualities, fighting spirit, discipline and absolute loyalty to the Party for cadres and soldiers. The General requires political commissars to proactively identify and fight against ideological deviations such as wavering, fear of difficulties, fear of sacrifice, subjectivity, complacency, violation of discipline, failure to strictly follow orders from superiors, and neglect of building party organizations and cadre work. The General emphasized: "If we do not smash that negative right-wing ideology, the completion of our glorious mission will be very difficult" (27) .
From practice, the General pointed out that political teaching must go deep into solving specific issues of ideology, organization, and tactics; combine ideological leadership with organizational leadership, promote military democracy, promptly answer questions, and resolve difficulties for soldiers. Political commissars need to organize well ideological activities, self-criticism, detect and correct mistakes in performing tasks, and regularly and promptly motivate and encourage, and foster morale for the unit. In particular, political teaching must closely follow reality, build a strong political stance and mettle as the core, help cadres and soldiers identify and fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints, protect the Party's ideological foundation by "fighting to the end, finding it in all places where it can hide, rejecting it to the end, not making concessions, not compromising, not tolerating, not putting peace first. Putting peace first is liberalism, not being interested in the victory of the army, in the interests of the Party" (28) .
Fifth, the practice of political teaching at grassroots units has achieved remarkable results thanks to the application of the educational ideology of General Vo Nguyen Giap.
In the practice of political education in the grassroots units of the Vietnam People's Army, the application of General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology has brought about many positive changes. Party committees, commanders, and political commissars all perceive and thoroughly grasp General Vo Nguyen Giap's ideology: political education is the "soul" of building a politically strong army, the foundation for enhancing the overall strength, ensuring that the army successfully completes all tasks assigned by the Party, the State, and the people. Thanks to that, units have proactively developed specialized resolutions on political education, issued regulations, procedures, innovated content, methods, and forms of organizing political education in accordance with the practical characteristics and tasks of each unit.
A typical example is the implementation of Directive No. 124-CT/QUTW of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee on strengthening leadership and direction of political education work at units in the new period. Units have proactively organized specialized political classes, combining theory with practical training and combat readiness, using real-life situations at the unit as practice exercises, organizing seminars and forums on "Youth with revolutionary ideals", "Young soldiers study and follow Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and style", "Promoting tradition, dedicating talent, worthy of being Uncle Ho's soldiers",... well-organized plans, programs and political study content. Thereby, officers and soldiers are not only equipped with political and legal knowledge, but also trained in mettle, will, sense of responsibility, and the ability to apply theory to solve practical problems of the unit, contributing to building a strong and comprehensive unit, "Exemplary model".
Most of the grassroots units of the Vietnam People's Army have promoted the exemplary and leading role of the political commissar team in innovating political teaching methods. The Central Military Commission's Standing Committee commented: "In general, the team of political teachers at the grassroots level basically meets the requirements of the task, achieving good and excellent results over 90%" (29) . Thereby, officers and soldiers are more proud of their tradition, maintain their faith, determination to overcome all difficulties and challenges, and excellently complete assigned tasks.
Practical results have shown that, thanks to the creative application of General Vo Nguyen Giap's educational ideology, the quality of political education in general and political teaching in particular in the Army's basic units, both in terms of curriculum and content, has been increasingly improved: "Regarding the curriculum, the content of political education has been built and compiled by the teaching staff with comprehensive innovation, ensuring the basic, systematic, unified, close connection between theory and practice, rich forms of expression, close to the subjects in the unit" (30) . Cadres and soldiers have a firm ideological stance, clearly understand their roles and responsibilities, are ready to receive and complete all tasks well, and do not waver in the face of difficulties and challenges. "The results of the annual examination of educational subjects all meet and exceed the planned targets, the good and excellent rate reaches from 74.8% - 90.1%" (31) . Many units have achieved the title of "Exemplary, exemplary comprehensive strong unit" and "Determined to win unit", making an important contribution to building the Vietnam People's Army to be increasingly disciplined, elite, and modern, always a loyal and trustworthy force of the Party, State, and people.
The profound educational ideology of General Vo Nguyen Giap has lasting theoretical and practical value for the political teaching work of political commissars of the Vietnam People's Army today. The General's views on the educational goal of linking theory with practice, promoting the initiative and creativity of learners; the central and exemplary role of political commissars have created a consistent, modern educational ideology system imbued with the spirit of humanity, nation and revolution. Those values are the guiding principles for political education and teaching in the army, contributing to improving the quality of political education in grassroots units, building a contingent of cadres and soldiers with strong political will, pure moral qualities, a sense of responsibility, and determination to overcome all difficulties and challenges. They are the long-term orientation for the cause of human resource development, building a revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern Vietnam People's Army, meeting the requirements of protecting the Fatherland in the new situation./.
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(1) Cecil B. Currey (translated by Nguyen Van Su): Victory at all costs - Vietnam's military genius: General Vo Nguyen Giap , World Publishing House, Hanoi, 2013, p. 71.
(2), (7) General Vo Nguyen Giap and his career in science, education and training , Hanoi Pedagogical University Publishing House, 2014, pp. 234, 277.
(3), (4), (5), (6) General Vo Nguyen Giap and his career in science, education and training, op. cit ., pp. 236, 237.
(8), (9) General Vo Nguyen Giap and his career in science, education and training, op. cit. , p. 281
(10), (11), (12) General Vo Nguyen Giap and his career in science, education and training, op. cit ., pp. 252, 290, 295
(13): See: Mai Thi Dieu “Applying the “history teaching method” of teacher, General Vo Nguyen Giap”, Quang Binh Newspaper , November 8, 2021, https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/giao-duc/202111/van-dung-cach-day-lich-su-cua-thay-giao-dai-tuong-vo-nguyen-giap-2195176/
(14), (16) General Vo Nguyen Giap: Complete memoirs , People's Army Publishing House, Hanoi, 2006, pp. 126, 690.
(15), (17), (18) Tran Trong Trung: Vo Nguyen Giap - Famous general of the Ho Chi Minh era , National Political Publishing House, Hanoi, 2015, pp. 571, 420, 669.
(19), (20), (21), (22) General Vo Nguyen Giap: Complete memoirs, op. cit ., pp. 421, 690, 690, 126
(23) Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Tran Anh Tuan - Lieutenant Colonel, Master Tran Minh Tu: "The basic views of General Vo Nguyen Giap on building the people's army", Nhan Dan Electronic Newspaper , https://special.nhandan.vn/quan-diem-cua-dai-tuong-vo-nguyen-giap-ve-quan-doi-nhan-dan/index.html
(24) Tran Trong Trung: Vo Nguyen Giap - Famous general of the Ho Chi Minh era , op. cit. , p. 615.
(25), (26) General Vo Nguyen Giap: Collection of memoirs, op. cit ., p. 126.(27), (28) Tran Trong Trung: Vo Nguyen Giap - Famous general of the Ho Chi Minh era, op. cit. , p. 799, 801.
(29), (30), (31) General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army: Report No. 2545/BC-CT, dated August 11, 2023, on the Summary of 12 years of implementing Directive No. 124-CT/QUTW, dated March 31, 2011, of the Central Military Commission Standing Committee, on strengthening leadership and direction of political education work at units in the new period and 10 years of implementing the Project "Innovation of political education work at units in the new period".
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