In the cause of revolutionary leadership, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) has consistently advocated for, steadfastly applied, and creatively developed Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, associated with the struggle to protect the ideological foundation of the Party. The document of the XI Congress of LPRP (in 2021) continues to affirm that Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought and the good tradition of LPRP are used as the ideological and theoretical foundation, a guideline for the organization and operation of the Party.

Youth of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) are a large force, and a major resource contributing to the cause, construction and socio-economic development of the country. The historical reality of the Lao PDR has proven that young people are the main resource participating in the struggle against imperialist aggression, feudalism, reactionaries, collaborators, and national independence. During the current phase of national construction, protection and development, the youth is the main resource contributing to the defense of the Fatherland, socio-economic construction, and development of the country. The LPRP has affirmed: the youth is the backbone of the country, the youth is the future of the country, the youth is the right hand of the Party.

The central provinces of Laos are strategically important areas in terms of the economy, politics, national defense and security for Laos. This is also an area where hostile and reactionary forces always seek ways to operate and counter our cause; in which, young people are the objects that they are especially interested in enticing and provoking. Therefore, in recent years, the authorities of the central provinces of Laos have consistently determined that the education of Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought for young people is an urgent and necessary issue in order to equip young people with a firm political stance and thought, to have faith in Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, in the leadership of LPRP, firmly moving on the path to socialism.

1. Achievements in the education of Marxism - Leninism, and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought for young people in the central provinces of Laos

Firstly, the education of Marxism - Leninism and the Kaysone Phomvihan ideology for young people at colleges, universities and vocational training schools is of great concern.

With the attention of the Party and provincial authorities, over the years, colleges, universities, and vocational training schools in Central Laos have taken many measures to improve the effectiveness of Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought education for young people and students who are studying at school. The schools have innovated the educational content and teaching methods of political theory, focusing on fully transmitting the basic and core principles of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought; Updating new content, suitable to the current situation and for the locality.

At the same time, schools also focus on innovating teaching methods, overcoming one-way teaching methods (teacher lectures - students take notes), improving the attractiveness of teaching and learning the theoretical content of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought; to build a political theory training program suitable to the subjects and all levels of education, with connectivity, overcoming overlaps and duplications, in line with educational and training needs; sticking to reality, practicality, avoiding the pursuit of formalities, degrees.

According to survey results in 12 colleges, universities, and vocational training schools in the Central provinces of Laos, most of the youth - students at the schools, when asked, said that the educational content of Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought was “ important” to “ very important”; the method of education is “appropriate”.

Along with that, all schools focus on teaching the basic principles of Marxism - Leninism in a scientific, clear, and systematic manner. In each lesson of the curriculum, there is a connection with the guidelines and lines of the Party, policies, and laws of the state, with the reality of life and tasks of young people.

Secondly, focus on propaganda for young people to identify and fight against wrong and hostile views.

In the educational work of Marxism - Leninism, the thought of Kaysone Phomvihan, equipping young people with knowledge, information, and skills to identify wrong and hostile views, which go against the fundamental theory. To achieve this goal, localities in Central Laos have actively implemented Directive No. 03/BCT, dated May 30, 2011 on “Building a village into a development unit, building a large village into a town in the countryside”, emphasizing the importance of ideological and political work in the new situation, thereby making cadres, party members, union members and people (especially young people) have the right awareness of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, policies, guidelines of LPRP, policies and laws of the State of Lao PDR.

In the central provinces of Laos, the Party committees, authorities at all levels, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, the Youth Federation and schools all focus on propaganda for young people and students to help them clearly see the plots, tricks and activities of “peaceful evolution” committed by hostile forces; orientation for youth and students to be properly aware of the guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State.

The Youth Union of the central provinces of Laos attaches importance to fostering, training, and improving skills for young people in defending Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought and fighting against wrong and hostile views. Thereby, helping young people raise their sense of responsibility in protecting the ideological foundation of the LPRP; fight against wrong and hostile views in the new situation.

The Youth Union also regularly reviews and closely grasps the political and ideological situation among young people and students. The Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union, the Youth Federation and schools have promptly detected and prevented misleading and wrong ideas, do not allow hostile forces to connect with students. To this end, they entice young people and students to participate in anti-sabotage activities.

In the provinces, Youth Unions and Associations also regularly actively fight against false and hostile views as well as conspiracies and tricks of hostile forces taking advantage of limitations in management and administration of governments at all levels to sow distorted perceptions and opposing ideas among young people. On the other hand, regularly grasping and forecasting ideological trends among union members and youth to promptly prevent, curb and solve newly arising problems. Thereby contributing to increasing “resistance” for young people to proactively prevent, detect early and effectively eliminate adverse factors.

Thirdly, promote the role of the Lao Communist Youth Union in defending Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought.

With many innovative and flexible forms of propaganda suitable to the characteristics of young people in each agency, unit, region, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union in the Central provinces has strengthened education and training for young people in knowledge of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, guidelines and lines of the Party, policies and laws of the state so that young people firmly believe in the ideological foundation of the LPRP.

In order to effectively carry out the promotion of the role of the Lao Communist Youth Union in the defense of Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth Union in the central provinces pays special attention to the method of setting an example for cadres at all levels in protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and fighting against wrong and hostile views.

The cadres of the youth union are pioneers, taking the lead in implementing the guidelines and lines of the Party, policies, and laws of the state; actively studying political theory, equipping themselves with knowledge, improving “self-immunity”, strengthen “resistance” to the plots and tricks of hostile forces. The union officials are still active and pioneering in propagating and spreading good information under the motto “take the beauty to eliminate the bad”; at the same time, actively fighting against information with false and distorted content about the ideological foundation of the Party, contributing to spreading, encouraging and encouraging the sense of responsibility of young people to actively participate in the fight against wrong and hostile views in the new situation.

In addition, union organizations at all levels actively and promptly grasp the ideological situation of young people, thereby, taking appropriate measures and using appropriate methods to promptly orient political thought for the youth, educating and correcting the manifestations of deviant ideology; not allowing hostile and reactionary forces to have the opportunity to entice and bribe young people.

2. Limitations and causes

Over the past several years, good progress has been made in the education of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Party’s lines and guidelines, and the state’s policies and laws for young people in the Central provinces of Laos. Although the program has been reformed, the program content is in fact, still not consistent, the educational content is still academic, focusing on theory, not suitable for young people and has not identified specific content, or tasks required for the period of promoting the industrialization and modernization of the country for young people to study, practice and develop.

Currently, in the Central provinces of the Lao PDR, Marxist - Leninist theory, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Party’s guidelines and lines, and the state’s policies and laws are only taught at a few schools, mainly pedagogical schools, or social-major schools that have not been included in the natural sciences, engineering majors since they think that just equipping professional knowledge is enough, or when teaching, they think it is just a secondary subject without seeing the importance of the subject.

On the other hand, teaching materials on Marxism - Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihan Thought in the schools today have been compiled with great enthusiasm by scientists and pedagogues, having practical significance for education, fostering theoretical, ideological and political knowledge, but there are still shortcomings such as: the amount of information is not sufficient, there has not been timely updates to the development of modern daily life, many concepts are still unclear, the level of modernity is not up to standard, and so on.

There is still the situation that a number of training institutions in the Central provinces of Laos have not done well in renovating the curriculum, content and teaching methods of Marxist - Leninist sciences, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, guidelines and lines of the Party, policies, and laws of the state.

In some localities and units in the Central provinces of Lao PDR, at some levels of Party committees, authorities, Youth Unions, and Youth Associations it has not been properly realized the dangerous nature of the plots and activities of “peaceful evolution”, wrong, hostile views, particularly they are not fully aware of the harmful effects of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation” posing a risk to the survival of LPRP. Therefore, the right tasks and measures have not been identified for educating the youth to have the awareness to prevent and combat the plots and tricks against the Lao revolution by hostile and reactionary forces. Specifically, the position, role, and responsibilities of young people in participating in the prevention, combat, and struggle to defeat the plots and tricks of hostile and reactionary forces to the Lao revolution have not been clearly defined. Therefore, the effectiveness of education has not been combined with self-education to raise the awareness among young people in the struggle to defeat the plots and countermeasures of hostile, opportunistic and reactionary forces to protect Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Party’s guidelines and lines, and the state’s policies and laws.

In those areas, the role of agencies and mass organizations has not been promoted well in determining policies and measures appropriate to the characteristics of young people in each facility/unit to improve the effectiveness of prevention and combat against plots and tricks against the Lao revolutionary by hostile and reactionary forces.

The above limitations stem from the following basic reasons:

Funding for this activity is still limited, largely relying on the annual state budget. The facilities for teaching and learning in general and the Marxist - Leninist sciences in particular have not yet met the requirements.

The teaching staff to teach these sciences in many localities is still limited. Some lecturers from other majors and subjects are assigned to teach Marxist - Leninist sciences; There was a time when the lecturers were all cadres working in the Provincial Propaganda Department to deliver lectures, so there was still a lack of professional knowledge and pedagogical skills.

In order to overcome the above limitations, continuing to improve the effectiveness of education on Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Party’s guidelines and lines, and the state’s policies as well as laws for young people, it is necessary to implement a number of solutions as follows:

Firstly, the theoretical content of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan thought, the guidelines and lines of the Party, and the state’s policies and laws shall be included in the compulsory curriculum of young people and students at all colleges, universities, and vocational training schools. At the same time, schools need to actively innovate programs, subject content and teaching methods for the subjects of Marxist - Leninist science, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, guidelines and lines of the Party, policies, and laws of the state to suit the new situation; to meet the needs and aspirations of young people.

Secondly, improve the youth’s initiative in fighting against wrong and hostile views in order to protect Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, guidelines and lines of the Party, policies, and laws of the state, together with regular propaganda, it needs to be determined to be the focus and a key point. Before big events, complex and sensitive issues, it is necessary to proactively provide information to young people through official channels, orienting public opinion among young people.

Thirdly, closely combine forces and means in the education of Marxism - Leninism, Kaysone Phomvihan Thought, the Party’s guidelines and lines, and the state’s policies and laws for young people. It is clear that this is the task of the whole political system under the leadership of the Party committees, in which special attention is paid to promoting the role of the Youth Union and the Youth Union.

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Received: November 7, 2022; Revised: November 15, 2022; Approved for publication: December 14, 2022.

l Endnotes:

1. The 11th National Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party: Continue to comprehensively and synchronously promote the national renovation process, https://www.tapchicongsan.org.vn

2. Lao People’s Revolutionary Party: Document of the 11th National Party Congress (in 2021)

3. The role of Lao Youth in the new era of national development, https://tapchicongsan.org.vn