The feelings of the team members of "Project 500 young intellectuals"

From the project 500 young intellectuals...

The 500 Young Intellectuals Project was approved by the Government on September 30, 2013 to attract high-quality human resources to communes in areas with particularly difficult socio -economic conditions, ethnic minority and mountainous areas across the country. The program aims to select 500 outstanding young intellectuals with university degrees to supplement the young cadres, contributing to socio-economic development and improving the effectiveness of state management at the grassroots level.

In Quang Binh province, 15 members of the 500 Young Intellectuals Project were recruited. The selection process was organized by the Department of Home Affairs under the close supervision of the Ministry of Home Affairs , taking place strictly with many screening rounds, to ensure that all recruited people are high-quality personnel, with enough capacity and enthusiasm to contribute to particularly difficult localities. Typically, in Bo Trach district, there were 90 applications but only 2 people were selected.

After being recruited, the team members signed contracts from March 2015; were sent for training and assigned to work in particularly difficult communes, taking on important positions such as: Accounting, culture-society, land administration, justice... For more than a decade, they have made continuous efforts to contribute, helping mountainous communes and remote areas to gradually develop.

The members of the 500 Young Intellectuals Project are anxiously waiting for the province to consider and resolve the regime and policies.

...To the current situation

On November 1, 2021, the Government issued Resolution No. 136/NQ-CP on placement solutions for team members of the 500 Young Intellectuals Project. Accordingly, the recruitment and placement of team members after completing their tasks into commune-level cadres and civil servants or working as civil servants and public employees in agencies and organizations must be completed before December 31, 2025. However, after the project ended (in 2020), Quang Binh still has 11 people who have not been officially recruited and are in a difficult situation, not knowing where the future will go.

Ms. Le Thi Ngoc Ha (born in 1990) has been an accountant-finance officer for 10 years in My Trach commune (now Ha My commune, Bo Trach) and said that the local government has repeatedly submitted proposals to higher authorities about recruiting her into the payroll, especially when some positions have been appointed to higher levels. However, the district could not approve because there were no specific instructions from higher authorities on the recruitment policy for members of the Project 500 Young Intellectuals.

In the same situation, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Linh (born in 1991), residing in Phuc Trach commune (Bo Trach) said that after graduating from Da Nang University of Economics and then completing a master's degree in accounting, she passed the exam and was recruited as an accountant at the People's Committee of Phu Trach commune (now Hai Phu commune). After more than 5 years of dedication to her work, in March 2020, when the project ended, Ms. Linh suddenly fell into unemployment and was anxiously waiting for policies from her superiors. After that, the Government issued a document allowing localities to extend the contracts of members of the 500 Young Intellectuals Project until December 31, 2025, and the Provincial People's Committee requested the districts to continue arranging work. It was not until May 2021 that Ms. Linh was assigned to work at the People's Committee of Phuc Trach commune.

“We have been working for more than 10 years but still have no clear direction. As we get older, it is very difficult to find a new job. In the context of restructuring commune-level administrative units and streamlining the apparatus, the fear of losing our jobs is even greater. We hope that the State will have a policy to arrange jobs or have a policy to support us in the process of changing jobs,” Ms. Linh expressed.

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Trang (born in 1987), in charge of Culture and Society at the People's Committee of Ngu Thuy Commune (Le Thuy) said: "Through research, team members of the 500 Young Intellectuals Project in other provinces and cities have been given priority for recruitment into the civil service or public employee system at public service units. Meanwhile, in Quang Binh, team members have not received adequate attention, so we hope to have a suitable support policy."

What is the solution?

Mr. Nguyen Huu Hong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Bo Trach District, said that the People's Committee of the District had previously requested the Department of Home Affairs to provide specific guidance on recruiting members of the Project 500 Young Intellectuals into civil servants. However, due to not receiving any comments from superiors, this process is still on hold. Currently, the recruitment of young intellectuals is facing many difficulties due to the process of arranging and merging communal-level administrative units. When the number of administrative units decreases, the staffing quota is also narrowed, and the arrangement of new personnel becomes more difficult. "We understand the wishes of the team members, but we need to wait for specific instructions from superiors to have appropriate solutions," Mr. Hong shared.

"The Provincial People's Committee always cares about and gives priority policies to young intellectuals. However, in the current context, recruitment is really difficult. In the near future, the Department of Home Affairs will continue to advise the Provincial People's Committee to consider and resolve the regime and policies in accordance with regulations for these cases when there are specific instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs," Mr. Tran The Vuong added.

Mr. Tran The Vuong, Director of the Department of Home Affairs, said that the Department has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue a document directing the recruitment of team members into civil servants and public employees at public service units. Every year, the Department also sends a document to localities, requesting that if there is a need for recruitment, team members should be given priority. However, in recent years, due to the implementation of streamlining the payroll by 10%, the recruitment target no longer exists, leading to difficulties in accepting team members into the civil servant and public employee system.

Faced with the above situation, on May 7, 2025, the Department of Home Affairs sent a document to the Ministry of Home Affairs requesting guidance on the regime for commune-level cadres and members of the Project 500 Young Intellectuals. Accordingly, regarding the regime for members of the Project 500 Young Intellectuals, the Department of Home Affairs would like to provide guidance on the following contents: When implementing the arrangement of administrative units at the commune level, will members of the Project 500 Young Intellectuals continue to be assigned contracts in new communes after the arrangement until December 31, 2025? After the arrangement of administrative units and the construction of a 2-level local government organization model, there are many redundant cadres, civil servants, public employees and workers, and there is no establishment to arrange and recruit members of the Project 500 young intellectuals. Can the provisions of Decree No. 178/2024/ND-CP, dated December 31, 2024 of the Government and Decree No. 67/2025/ND-CP, dated March 15, 2025 of the Government be applied?'

Thanh Phuc

Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/toa-soan-ban-doc/202505/noi-long-cua-doi-vien-de-an-500-tri-thuc-tre-2226260/