Building a strong intellectual team: Raising intelligence (part 2)

08:00, August 16, 2023

Part 2: Human resource development: There are still "bottlenecks"

After nearly 15 years of implementing Resolution No. 27 of the 10th Party Central Committee on building a contingent of intellectuals in the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country, the position and role of the contingent of intellectuals in Dak Lak province have been enhanced, increasing in quantity and quality. However, the building of the contingent of intellectuals in Dak Lak still faces many difficulties and challenges.

There is still a "gap" between academic titles, degrees and practice.

In response to the demands of the cause of promoting industrialization - modernization of the country and international integration, the number of intellectuals in Dak Lak province has increased significantly; however, it has not yet met the requirements of socio-economic development of the locality. In addition, the work of attracting talents and developing highly qualified human resources in some fields is still limited, lacking leading cadres and good experts in many fields such as agriculture, construction, economics, environment, etc.

In recent years, Krong Bong district has done a good job in training and fostering cadres; in which, special attention has been paid to creating a source of young cadres. However, according to the assessment of the district's Department of Internal Affairs, the current number of cadres basically ensures the assigned tasks, but it must also be frankly acknowledged that there has not been a breakthrough or outstanding contribution in promoting local development.

As Ea Trul is a commune in Region 3, with over 60% of the population being ethnic minorities, attracting intellectuals and highly qualified people to work in the locality is not easy. Most of the commune's civil servants basically have degrees and quantity, but the quality does not meet practical needs, leading to work efficiency not being as expected.

Vice Chairman of the Commune People's Committee Tran Hoai Chinh expressed that in order to develop the local socio-economy, it is necessary to attract intellectuals who are qualified, enthusiastic and willing to contribute. To do so, first of all, it is necessary to ensure the working environment, living conditions and income; at the same time, authorities at all levels must have strategies to develop and attract talents to particularly difficult areas such as Ea Trul.

Workers at an agricultural processing enterprise in Tan An Industrial Cluster.

Not only in state agencies, enterprises also have a serious shortage of highly skilled human resources. As a company operating in the field of mechanics, Dang Phong Production - Trade - Service - Import - Export Company Limited (Tan An Industrial Park) is in great need of highly skilled workers. However, recruitment is very difficult. Mr. Nguyen Dang Phong, Director of the Company, said that every year the Company announces the recruitment of highly skilled workers for important positions in the unit's production line, but the search is very difficult, in recent years, the number of recruitments can be counted on the fingers. Therefore, every year, the Company has to hire teachers to train and improve the skills of workers.

“In terms of quantity, there is no shortage of intellectuals in Dak Lak province, but in terms of quality, they are not yet sufficient. In fact, the intellectuals who are trained have very high academic titles and degrees, but their ability to respond to practical needs in social life is still very far away” - Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department Le Dinh Hoan.

It is a fact that the number of scientific topics researched and applied to production, business and people's lives in the province is still small and of low quality; participation in consulting, reviewing and appraising policies and socio-economic development projects by intellectuals is still limited.

Deputy Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department Le Dinh Hoan said that Dak Lak currently has the Central Highlands Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology Institute, the Central Highlands Regional Branch of the National Academy of Public Administration, and the Central Highlands University, all of which have scientific research topics, including some national-level topics, but the application in practice is very limited, not as expected. The majority of qualified intellectuals in our country in general and Dak Lak province in particular work in administrative agencies, public services, education, health care, and management, and rarely participate directly in scientific research and technology development.

Human resource "trough"

Building a team of intellectuals in general, and ethnic minority intellectuals in particular, to meet the requirements of socio-economic development is one of the tasks that our Party and State pay special attention to. Holding an important role and position to accelerate the development process in rural areas, remote areas, but currently the team of ethnic minority intellectuals accounts for a low proportion.

Dak Lak province has nearly 2 million people, of which local ethnic minorities account for about 32% of the province's population, and ethnic minorities from other places account for about 12%. Currently, the number of ethnic minority civil servants and public employees accounts for about 13.2% of the total number of civil servants and public employees in the province. Although the number is quite large, the number of highly qualified ethnic minority intellectuals is still modest, which is also a common feature of the Central Highlands region. According to statistics, in 2021, the number of people with university degrees or higher in the Central Highlands was 322,056 people (accounting for 5.3% of the population), of which the ethnic minority intellectual team was 9,078 people. Of which, Dak Lak province has 3,651 intellectuals with university degrees or higher (accounting for 11.02% of the population), Dak Nong province has the lowest number in the region with 147 people (accounting for only 2.7% of the population).

Mr. Tran Trung Kien (left) is a skilled worker at Dang Phong Production - Trade - Service - Import Export Company Limited.

Dr. Tran Ngoc Thanh, Chairman of the Dak Lak Provincial Forestry Science and Technology Association, shared that the number of ethnic minority intellectuals in the Central Highlands is still lacking. The ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands account for about 38% of the region's population, but the ethnic minority intellectuals only account for 2.73%. Currently, the Central Highlands has 4 universities, but only 2 have ethnic minority lecturers. Specifically, Da Lat University (Lam Dong province) has 330 lecturers, but only 1 ethnic minority lecturer (accounting for 0.03%), Tay Nguyen University has 473 lecturers, but only 15 ethnic minority lecturers (accounting for 3.2%).

According to the assessment of the Ethnic Committee, the human resources of the Central Highlands provinces in general, Dak Lak in particular, especially the ethnic minority areas are still "lowland areas". Therefore, the results of implementing the goals of the whole region are very modest. For example, in 2020, the labor productivity of the region only reached 84.3 million VND/worker (equal to 0.93 times that of the Northern midland and mountainous region; 0.4 times that of the Red River Delta region). Similarly, in 2020, the average income per capita of the region only reached 33.8 million VND/year, ranking 5th/6 regions of the country...

It can be affirmed that the above situations are the limitations and "bottlenecks" of the Central Highlands in general and Dak Lak province in particular in the process of socio-economic development. The task of ordering scientists and researchers to propose development solutions for the region in the coming time is extremely necessary. In particular, it is necessary to identify the construction, development and improvement of the quality of the province's ethnic minority cadres to meet the requirements of the tasks in the new situation as an important and urgent task.

(To be continued)

Final episode: Building a team of intellectuals large in quantity and strong in quality

Thuy Hong - Hoang Tuyet

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