Ministry marks 80 years of National Script Dissemination Association
The Ministry of Education and Training held a ceremony in Hanoi on May 25 to mark the 80th founding anniversary of the National Script Dissemination Association (May 25, 1938), which is the predecessor of the continuing education sector nowadays.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Ministry of Education and Trainingheld a ceremony in Hanoi on May 25 to mark the 80th founding anniversary of theNational Script Dissemination Association (May 25, 1938), which is thepredecessor of the continuing education sector nowadays.
Addressing the event, Deputy Minister Nguyen HuuDo said the romanised script, developed by French missionary Alexandre deRhodes in the 17th century, became the official script of Vietnam in the early20th century and was called Quoc ngu (national script).
But it was not until 1917 that the romanizedscript completely won against Han (Chinese) and Nom (modified Chinese script ofVietnam). However, up to 95 percent of Vietnam’s population was illiterate atthat time.
After the Communist Party of Vietnam came intobeing in 1930, the then Party Committee of the northern region decided to setup an organisation to fight illiteracy and invite intellectuals to take part inthis organisation.
The legality of the National ScriptDissemination Association was recognised on July 29, 1938. However, theorganisation took May 25, 1938 as its official establishment day.
It opened the first course on September 9, 1938.From June 1940 to July 1944, the organisation ran 820 classes with 2,908teachers and 41,118 students. Nearly 9,460 of the students had escaped illiteracyby September 1944.
The organisation began operations in the centralregion on January 5, 1939 and in the southern region on November 5, 1944.
After the August Revolution in 1945 that led tothe foundation of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the SocialistRepublic of Vietnam, the mass education movement was launched, and the NationalScript Dissemination Association ceased operation.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Huu Do said in nearly twodecades since Vietnam declared the elimination of illiteracy and universalisationof primary education, illiteracy eradication efforts have been maintained andresulted in major achievements.
The literacy rate has reached about 97.35percent in the 15-60 age group and 92.56 percent among ethnic minority people,he noted.
At the ceremony, the education ministry alsohonoured collectives and persons with outstanding attainments in illiteracyeradication in recent years.-VNA
VNA
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