Difficulty "gives rise" initiative

The "Digital Literacy for All" movement was launched by the Prime Minister with the aim of helping people, especially those with limited access to technology, to grasp and master digital technology, thereby participating more deeply in the digital economy and digital society. Meanwhile, unlike the provinces in the delta region, Lai Chau is a border province with a large ethnic minority population, uneven educational level, limited awareness, and difficult transportation, so popularizing digital knowledge and skills, and equipping people with basic digital devices is an extremely difficult task.

Sharing about the implementation of the "Digital Education for the People" Movement in Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard, Lieutenant Colonel Truong Minh Duc, Deputy Commander of the Provincial Military Command, Commander of Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard Command said: "To teach people about digital transformation, each border guard soldier must become a digital soldier, have knowledge, skills and must also be a pioneer in implementing digital transformation. With that spirit, the leaders of the Provincial Border Guard Command have resolutely directed the promotion of digital transformation in agencies and units with the clear result that the "paperless meeting room" has been and is being operated smoothly throughout the unit".

Leaders of Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard Command and leaders of Viettel Lai Chau presented smartphones and sim cards to disadvantaged people in Si Choang village, Si Lo Lau commune, Lai Chau province. Photo: DUC DUAN

In particular, right after launching the "Digital Literacy for the People" Movement, the Provincial Border Guard Command opened a training course on digital transformation for officers in the command agency and border posts. After being trained, coached, and equipped with digital knowledge and skills, these officers will become the core, instructing their colleagues in the posts. Next, the posts will establish a "Green Uniform Teachers - Accelerating Digital Transformation" Team to go to each village and each house to instruct people on digital transformation.

In many communes and border villages of Lai Chau province, poverty is still a "dark shadow" haunting many families; therefore, a smartphone is a valuable asset for many people. When the "Digital Education for All" Movement was deployed in the area, to solve the difficult problem of digital devices and tools to support digital transformation, the Provincial Border Guard Command coordinated with border communes to review and count families, villages and border villages that are "low areas" in terms of technology and join hands to contribute to eliminating these "low areas".

With that spirit, after nearly 3 months of launching the "Digital Education for All" Movement (from May 31, 2025), the Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard Command has presented 35 smartphones (worth 2 million VND/phone) to people in the border area and aims to present at least 200 smartphones to people in the border area... Accompanying the Provincial Border Guard, Viettel Lai Chau commits to giving away SIM cards and free 4G packages for 3 years; at the same time, upgrading telecommunications infrastructure to improve the quality of Viettel's 4G service.

Lieutenant Colonel Truong Minh Duc said that for the border area to catch up with the lowlands, the fastest way is through science, technology, and digital transformation. In the immediate future, with the knowledge gained, the Border Guard will help people "eliminate digital illiteracy", simply by letting people have smartphones and know how to use smartphones, and know how to install essential applications for daily life. Even more importantly, through digital transformation, it will guide officers, soldiers, and people to avoid bad and toxic information on cyberspace; propagate the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's laws and policies to the people through digital transformation. In particular, digital transformation will lay the foundation for the task of protecting the border in cyberspace in the future.

Changes in the "12-story slope"  

Si Lo Lau Commune of Lai Chau Province has 27 villages with 16,191 people, of which Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station manages 17 villages with more than 8,900 people including Mong, Dao, Ha Nhi ethnic groups. In the language of the Red Dao people, "Si Lo Lau" means "12 slopes". People in the commune comply well with the Party's policies and guidelines, but backward customs and difficult socio-economic conditions make it impossible to completely eliminate problems such as early marriage, illegal emigration, drugs, etc.

Concerned with this reality, Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station assigned Major Nguyen Duy Khanh, Deputy Political Commissar, to innovate the dissemination and education of law in a practical and appropriate direction for ethnic minority areas.

Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station organizes training and knowledge development on digital transformation. Photo: DUC DUAN

Realizing that people have started using smartphones but do not know how to apply them in life, Major Nguyen Duy Khanh proposed and directly deployed the "Green-uniformed teachers - Accelerating digital transformation" group, aiming to integrate the implementation of the Project "Promoting the role of the People's Army in participating in the dissemination and education of law, mobilizing people to comply with the law at the grassroots level in the period of 2021-2027.

Major Nguyen Duy Khanh shared: "The model "Green uniform teacher - Accelerating digital transformation" was born from the practice of implementing legal propaganda programs in the traditional way, facing many barriers such as: Gathering people for village meetings; language differences; lost propaganda documents, ineffective storage... From there, we realized that bringing technology to the village - making the law closer, easier to understand, easier to remember, easier to practice is extremely important and practical".

Right from the beginning of the model implementation, the unit determined that the implementation must be methodical, focused, and key. Therefore, the "Green Military Uniform Teachers - Accelerating Digital Transformation" Team was established, consisting of 4 young, dynamic, capable, and enthusiastic cadres. The members were assigned specific tasks, such as: Responsible for designing electronic documents, billboards, and legal leaflets; making legal video clips; managing community zalo groups and fanpages; directly instructing people on digital skills (looking up procedures, sending reports of violations, accessing public services)...

From a crime report via an anonymous email, Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station discovered and arrested the subject who organized the illegal border crossing. Photo: DUC DUAN

The model was deployed synchronously with many contents and forms suitable to the practical conditions of the area. The unit has produced short legal video clips on practical topics; organized dozens of "digital legal classes" at villages and schools, guiding people and students to look up administrative procedures, send violations, and use public services via smartphones. Set up nearly 20 QR codes to look up laws at villages and build hundreds of news and articles with legal content on the unit's Facebook and YouTube pages, helping people to self-study the law anytime, anywhere, regardless of level, space or time.

Lieutenant Colonel Truong Thai Binh, Chief of Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station, excitedly said: Through these activities, we have contributed to reducing the rate of law violations, domestic violence, and drug use; 100% of village chiefs, party cell secretaries, and commune officials know how to use information technology to share legal documents. People are no longer afraid of the law, no longer afraid of technology, and have begun to form the habit of proactively asking, self-studying the law, and applying technology to protect themselves.

Officers of Vang Ma Chai Border Post organize "Border lesson".

Along with the model of "Green-uniformed teachers - Accelerating digital transformation", Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station also has many initiatives, creating a deep legal ecosystem in the border area. Notably, the model of "Anonymous email box for reporting crimes and illegal immigration" stands out. With this model, the unit has printed hundreds of posters with QR codes to post at public places, village cultural houses, markets, schools, medical stations and places where people often pass by. By simply using a smartphone to scan the QR code, people will be directed to a simple electronic form to provide denunciation information, reflecting the security and order situation in the area.

Through the model, the unit has received 32 reports, of which 14 are of special value, effectively supporting the fight against and prevention of crimes on the border; the unit has prosecuted 1 case and arrested 1 subject for organizing others to illegally flee abroad.

From the effectiveness of the model, the Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard Command has directed its simultaneous deployment throughout the province. In just over 2 months of deployment, the Lai Chau Provincial Border Guard has received nearly 100 messages from the masses, including many valuable messages serving professional work, solving many drug trafficking cases in the area.

In addition, Vang Ma Chai Border Guard Station has effectively implemented the "Border Lesson" program. This is a form of political and ideological education, traditional education, raising awareness of national defense and security for students in border areas. Not only organizing students in the area to go to the field at the border markers, border guards also go to each school to propagate to teachers and students knowledge about the law and contents related to territorial sovereignty, national border security, history and tradition of the Border Guard force.

MAI THANG LONG

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/quoc-phong-an-ninh/quoc-phong-toan-dan/hanh-trinh-chuyen-doi-so-noi-bien-gioi-lai-chau-842749