On the morning of November 1, the National Assembly discussed the investment policy for the National Target Program on Cultural Development for the 2025-2030 period.

Commenting on the development of cultural human resources, delegate Nguyen Van Canh (Binh Dinh) emphasized that reading books is a very important habit. Reading books is much different from updating information and knowledge on the internet, reading books helps to understand oneself and sympathize with others.

Skimming through news on the internet without full content can easily lead to biased thinking, leading to a tendency to attack others or over-support them.

Delegates emphasized the need to create reading spaces in many places, not just libraries, book streets, and book cafes.

Therefore, delegates proposed developing reading spaces in public areas, spaces providing public services, passenger transport services, tourist areas, entertainment and accommodation.

Delegate Nguyen Van Canh also proposed to build a Vietnamese identity. Vietnam does not have a clear cultural identity like Japan and Korea. The law also does not stipulate which competent authority can approve Vietnamese identities such as national costumes and national flowers.

The Law on Cultural Heritage (amended) about to be passed also does not have any content assigning authority to any agency. Previously, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized a vote for the national costume and national flower but stopped halfway because it did not have the authority to approve.

The Vietnamese identity also includes the national costume, national flower, national instrument, national dance, national martial arts, national wine, and national cuisine. According to Mr. Canh, these are the elements that create the standard for a Vietnamese state banquet at a major national or international event.

He shared that recently, young people have been interested in men's ao dai and wear them a lot at cultural events, Tet holidays and weddings. He said that "this is the right time for the Ministry to restart the selection of national costumes".

At the question and answer session of the 7th meeting (June), Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung said that since 2011, the Government has assigned the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to build an identity for the national flower.

The Ministry proposed the lotus as the national flower identification. However, when presenting it, there was a problem with "who has the authority to recognize it, who is the signatory". In the end, the answer was that no one has the authority because there are no regulations. The Ministry also identified the ceremonial dress and national dress as a set of clothes with distinctive characteristics. This was studied but then had to be stopped.

100% of students have access to art and cultural heritage

One of the program's goals is that by 2030, 100% of students in the national education system will have access to and regularly participate in arts education and cultural heritage education activities.

Delegate Pham Van Hoa (Dong Thap) expressed "is it necessary or not", because students must know that cultural and artistic heritage is a difficult issue, to include in the main or extracurricular general education program.

Especially for students in remote areas, ethnic minority areas and rural areas, Mr. Hoa said that setting such a common goal would not be effective.

Explaining later, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that this was the content proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training with the desire to develop people comprehensively. Education about arts and cultural heritage has been included in the general education program. However, he acknowledged that in some places, especially remote, disadvantaged areas, and ethnic minority areas, implementation is still difficult.

In many localities, children can learn flutes, panpipes, ethnic dances, and traditional musical instruments... Local education includes a lot of content about local history, historical relics, and culture, and this is also a compulsory subject.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that it is expected to adjust "to strive for 100% of students in the national education system to have access to and participate in arts education and cultural heritage education activities by 2030".

Submit to the National Assembly a cultural development program worth over 122,000 billion VND

The national target program for cultural development in the 2025-2030 period is proposed with a total estimated investment of VND122,250 billion.