ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF VIETNAM GENERAL EDUCATION IN WARTIME (1945-1954) – A CASE STUDY OF TAN AN PROVINCE

By Pham Van Thinh
DOI: 10.37550/tdmu.EJS/2024.04.604

Tan An was a former province in the Mekong Delta, now part of Long An Province, Vietnam. During the Vietnamese resistance against French colonialism (1945-1954), in addition to military, political, and economic activities, Tan An province vigorously organized and developed general education, becoming a highlight of the educational movement during the war in southern Vietnam. Using the methods of writing educational history and oral history, this article outlines the process of organizing and conducting general education in Tan An and its impact on the local resistance efforts. The results show that despite continuous warfare, general education activities in Tan An persisted, achieving significant accomplishments in eradicating illiteracy, raising public awareness, developing teaching staff, and constructing schools and classrooms suitable for wartime conditions. The educational development process in Tan An provides valuable lessons for building and developing general education during wartime, including experiences in leveraging the tradition of self-reliance to advance education and mobilizing community contributions when the state focused all resources on the war effort.