Vietnam has higher 4G coverage than high-income countries

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that Vietnam's 4G phone coverage rate currently reaches 99.8% of the population, while high-income countries reach an average of 99.4%.

At 3:35 p.m. on November 7, the National Assembly questioned the Ministers of science and technology,education and training , culture, sports, tourism, health, labor, information and communications.

• 17:00

  The question-and-answer session ended on the afternoon of November 7. Tomorrow morning, the National Assembly will continue to question the Ministers of science and technology, education and training, culture, sports, tourism, health , labor, information and communications.

• 16:55

  Will achieve 5G coverage target by 2030

  Delegate Ta Minh Tam (Deputy Head of Tien Giang Delegation) asked: Does Vietnam have a policy to develop online mobile subscribers?

  Minister Nguyen Manh Hung said that 4G network coverage has reached 99.8% of the population so by 2025 the target of full coverage will be achieved. At the end of this year, 5G frequencies will be auctioned. The advantage is that network operators install 5G broadcasting stations on old infrastructure so investment is reduced and deployment time is fast. "The target of 5G network coverage will be achieved by 2030, I think it can be faster," Mr. Hung said.

  

  Delegate Ta Minh Tam. Photo: National Assembly Media

  Registering subscribers in remote areas is difficult due to the long distance to the network operator's headquarters. The Ministry is studying an online registration method, but it must be accurate and free of junk SIMs. This method will be included in a decree next year, which will stipulate online registration.

• 16:50

  Proposal to handle the person who defamed the film Southern Forest Land

  Delegate To Thi Bich Chau (Chairwoman of the Ho Chi Minh City Fatherland Front) asked the Prime Minister to provide solutions to protect individuals and organizations when they are abused by the online community. Ms. Chau cited two examples: Miss Y Nhi and the film Dat Rung Phuong Nam "being crushed by the online community". "So who will protect them then, how will they be protected or will they wait for them to complain, petition, or make a petition. Giving suggestions in the style of beating them to death rather than beating them to teach them a lesson is very dangerous", Ms. Chau questioned.

  Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said the Ministry has issued a code of conduct for artists doing art on social networks.

  

  Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung. Photo: National Assembly Media

  Regarding the content related to the film Southern Forest Land, the film review board has been licensed and does not violate the law. "Public opinion has said that the film has this or that manifestation which is not accurate, it needs to be considered to deal with the act of insulting and defaming," said Minister Nguyen Van Hung.

  Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that social network management will be revised in the upcoming decree. This is a fundamental decree, which regulates the handling of privacy violations and has institutions to support people.

  The ministry has also set up a national fake news centre. "I think it is necessary to set up provincial centres because most of life's activities are on cyberspace," he said.

  

  Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

  Minister Hung also proposed strict law enforcement and the need to criminally prosecute serious cases of abuse, "such as the handling of Ms. Phuong Hang, which has a high deterrent effect."

  "The fundamental solution is to build a digital culture. Cyberspace is a new environment for humans. We have lived in the real environment for tens of thousands of years and still have problems, let alone those who have only participated in cyberspace for about 20 years," said Minister Hung, adding that he has built a foundation to train skills and increase people's resistance on social networks.

• 16:30

  Vietnam will build a '3-house' model in science and technology development

  Delegate Ta Minh Tam (Deputy Head of Tien Giang Delegation) said that many research results can be applied but have not been transferred, and are not yet complete in terms of technology and ability to meet market demand. The science and technology program serving new rural construction has only selected scientific tasks so far, and has not signed a contract due to lack of funding for implementation. "I request the Minister of Science and Technology to provide solutions to create breakthroughs in science and technology development?", Mr. Tam questioned.

  Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat said the delegate's question raised issues that the science and technology sector is struggling with. The Minister said that the ministry has recently worked with localities, institutes, and schools to connect the scientific research of schools with the needs and practical applications of localities.

  "Applied scientific tasks must involve scientific research teams from schools and localities, working together to develop research programs to address urgent local needs," he said.

  Minister Huynh Thanh Dat said that many countries in the world are effectively applying the model of cooperation between schools, institutes and enterprises. For example, the Netherlands has a "three-house" model, including the State - enterprises and schools and institutes. In this model, the State creates the environment, ecosystem and institutions. Schools and institutes are the places for research and enterprises carry out innovation activities. This is also the model that Vietnam is aiming to build in scientific research and technology transfer.

  

  Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat answers questions on the afternoon of November 7. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

  The Minister also said that science currently contributes 30% to the development of the agricultural sector. To link agriculture and science, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development recently signed a cooperation agreement to deploy applied technology activities in agriculture, especially high technology.

  Regarding funding for science and technology tasks in the new rural program, the Minister of Science and Technology said he will work with the Ministry of Finance to arrange funding for the program.

• 16:25

  Vietnam has achieved 4G coverage rate higher than high-income countries

  Delegate Doan Thi Le An (Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Cao Bang province) questioned the promise of the Minister of Information and Communications at the 4th session about affirming that he would direct network operators to have solutions to thoroughly cover villages, especially mountainous areas and ethnic minorities. The Minister promised to strive to complete the provision of mobile telecommunications services in villages and hamlets in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, border areas and islands by 2023.

  "I would like to ask the Minister to let us know whether this goal can be achieved by the end of 2023? At the same time, please provide specific solutions to achieve this goal?", Ms. An said.

  Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that since 2021, when Covid-19 broke out, the Prime Minister directed the issuance of the Waves and Computers for Children program. The Ministry has directed network operators and the Department of Information and Communications to review each area across the country, even places with only a few dozen houses, to conduct coverage in areas with low signal.

  To date, 2,100 signal depressions have been covered. Vietnam's 4G phone coverage rate currently reaches 99.8% of the population. High-income and middle-income countries only reach 99.4%. In 2023, localities will discover and identify 420 signal depressions to continue covering. "We have included this number in the plan and used the public telecommunications fund to complete it before June 2024," said Mr. Hung.

  

  Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung. Photo: National Assembly Media

  Delegate Tao Van Giot (Secretary of the Tam Duong District Youth Union, Lai Chau Province) is concerned about the current situation of advertising health protection foods that have not been assessed, and the advertising content is incorrect on social networks. Advertising food as medicine uses the names of agencies such as health, cutting and pasting images from national television, hospitals, and the Ministry of Health. Feedback from patients, celebrities, and advertising food with disease treatment effects is still quite common and complicated, causing confusion and damage to consumers.

  "I request the Minister to provide a solution to fundamentally handle this problem," delegate Giot asked.

  According to Minister Nguyen Manh Hung, false advertising of functional foods and drugs on the Internet is mainly through cross-border social networking platforms. The Ministry has reached a mechanism to work with these social networks to remove false information, advertisements, and toxic information and institutionalize it in legal documents. Currently, the rate of implementation of State management requirements on removing false information on social networks is very strict.

  However, Mr. Hung said that the fundamental solution is still "detection, reporting to resolve". Whichever ministry or locality manages something in the real world, it needs to manage that thing moving in cyberspace. According to the Minister, currently, ministries and localities have not shown much of a management role in cyberspace, and many times they think that this is the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Information and Communications or the Ministry of Public Security. "For example, whether medicine or functional foods are advertised correctly or incorrectly is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health," he said.

• 16:20

  Bringing district-level medical centers under the direct control of the district People's Committee

  Questioning the Minister of Health, delegate Hoang Quoc Khanh (Deputy Head of Lai Chau Delegation) cited the Supervisory Resolution requesting the unification of district-level health centers under the district-level People's Committee and clearly defining the functions, tasks and organization of the health station system in accordance with the scale, population structure, socio-economic conditions, and people's ability to access health services in each region and area.

  Immediately after the National Assembly Resolution, the grassroots health staff are looking forward to the competent authorities' early guidance on implementation to stabilize the organization and work with peace of mind. Mr. Khanh asked Minister Dao Hong Lan to let him know how far the implementation of the above two contents has progressed and when will they be completed?

  

  Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan answers questions on the afternoon of November 7. Photo: Ngoc Thanh

  Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan said that the district-level health center model has changed many times in the past. The National Assembly's supreme supervision report on grassroots policies pointed out the achievements and failures of this model.

  According to Ms. Lan, it is necessary to arrange district-level health centers under the district People's Committee to ensure unified management of human resources and apparatus. In addition, it is necessary to ensure professional guidance from the Department of Health. Recently, Directive 25 of the Secretariat continued to require the center to be under the provincial People's Committee. This needs to be completed before July 1, 2025. To implement, the Ministry of Health is reviewing the functions of district health centers to issue according to its authority.

• Will institutionalize fanpage identity authentication

  Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh (Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An Province) said that currently, many organizations and agencies in the political system have fanpages on Facebook, which are effective in propaganda but have not been granted official accounts. Delegate Sinh requested the Minister of Information and Communications to have solutions to support the orientation and officialization of these pages.

  

  Delegate Vo Thi Minh Sinh, Chairwoman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Nghe An province. Photo: National Assembly Media

  Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said that many organizations have fanpages on social networks and want to formalize these pages. Currently, some social networking platforms support this function, such as Facebook, which gives a blue tick when providing authentic information. However, not all social networks have this function.

  "The Ministry has been working with social networking platforms, and basically by the end of this year the platforms will provide authentication functions. The Ministry will also institutionalize this in the Decree signed at the end of this year on Internet content," said Mr. Hung.

• 16:00

  Female students are increasingly involved in school violence.

  Delegate Vuong Quoc Thang (Hanoi National University) said that in the Government's report sent to National Assembly delegates, it assessed that the situation of school violence is complicated. "So according to the Minister of Education and Training, what are the causes leading to this situation and what is the Ministry's fundamental solution in the coming time?", Mr. Thang questioned.

  Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that from 2021 to now, nearly 700 cases of school violence have occurred nationwide, involving more than 2,000 students, including 800 female students. "School violence is complicated. On average, there is one case of school violence in every 50 schools. The number of cases of violence involving students occurs both inside and outside of schools. The increasing number of female students involved makes us very worried and we are trying to find solutions," said the Minister of Education and Training.

  

  Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son. Photo: National Assembly Media

  According to the Minister, there are many causes of school violence, in which the detection and handling of school violence is currently assigned to teachers, while some principals and teachers are still confused about how to handle it when it is detected.

  According to statistics from the Supreme People's Court, every year 70-80% of divorces are related to domestic violence. Therefore, students can both witness violence and be subjected to violence. These two things are related, so it is necessary to prevent violence from the family. Violent movies also affect young people with different violent motifs. "During the pandemic, students study online for a long time, so they have psychological problems, combined with the psychology of adulthood, which can be the cause of school violence," said Minister Son.

• 15:55

  'Teachers hope society and parents share difficulties'

  According to delegate Ly Tiet Hanh (Deputy Head of Binh Dinh Delegation), the Minister of Education and Training recently met and discussed with about one million teachers and received over 6,000 questions. She asked the Minister to share the biggest concerns and problems of the teaching staff today and propose solutions.

  According to the new general education program, basic general knowledge is provided until the end of junior high school, an important milestone for continuing to stream students. But currently, at the end of junior high school, students do not take an exam but are considered for graduation, while at the end of high school, they take a graduation exam.

  "Is it necessary to change the organization of the junior high school graduation exam combined with the 10th grade entrance exam and high school graduation exam?", the delegate asked.

  Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that on August 15, before the school year, he organized an online meeting with one million teachers. More than 6,300 questions and opinions were sent, most of which agreed with the educational innovation trend that the Party, State and Government are leading.

  Teachers all realize that this is a huge challenge, a big expectation from society and are determined to overcome it. Besides, teachers also confide that "the challenge is big but the life of a teacher to implement the innovations is still difficult".

  Young teachers who have just started their careers have low salaries, and teachers in remote areas still have difficulties with facilities and public housing. "Teachers really want society and parents to share more about the work they are doing; they want to see improvements in their salaries and living conditions," said Mr. Son.

  The Minister of Education and Training said he was very pleased that in many National Assembly sessions, the issue of teachers' salaries and living standards had been mentioned; the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Government understood this and were looking for ways to resolve it.

  

  Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son. Photo: National Assembly Media

  Regarding the idea of ​​changing the admission method for high school and middle school, Mr. Son said this is a perspective. Middle school is a fundamental, basic, and integrated stage of education to equip students with the most basic knowledge of general education. High school increases the factors of streaming, career guidance, and proactive choice for students.

  In fact, students and parents agree that it is necessary to reduce exams when graduating from junior high school to high school. However, the end of high school, although it is a career orientation, marks the end of 12 years of general education. Therefore, graduation exams are necessary and this is stipulated in the 2019 Education Law.

  The purpose and nature of the high school graduation exam is to graduate, but in reality, the results are also used as a basis for university admissions. "So the exam will still be held in the coming years," said Mr. Son.

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