For a Soc Trang of Comprehensive Innovation and Integration

In the past time, with effective changes in guidance and administration of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial People’s Council and the Provincial People’s Committee as well as the drastic engagement of all departments and branches, Soc Trang province has solidly overcome difficulties and challenges to achieve most encouraging results in almost all areas.

Changing the face of Soc Trang urban areas

Mr Pham Anh Minh, Deputy Director of the Department of Construction

After more than 10 years of implementing Resolution 09-NQ/TU of the Provincial Party Committee dated January 6, 2003 on urban development in Soc Trang province, the face of urban zones in the province is getting more beautiful, more modern and more civilised.

Positive urban development has helped economic restructuring, socio-economic development and people’s material and spiritual life improvement. The province has streamlined planning and planning management, decentralised management, applied information technology to management, intensified administrative procedure reform, attracted resources for development investment, and raised public awareness of construction planning, environmental protection, and urban landscape. As a result, the urban environment has been gradually improved and modernised

In the past time, the province has effectively mobilised domestic and foreign capital sources and economic sectors, particularly from enterprises, to invest in technical infrastructure construction in urban areas, residential areas, commercial areas and environmental rehabilitation. The construction of new buildings helps change the look of urban areas and improve people’s livelihood quality. The technical and social infrastructure has been invested to promote socio-economic development.

Aiming to build Soc Trang e-government

Mr Duong Van Nhan, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications

At present, Soc Trang province has basically completed and is using core software and information systems in State administration and serve citizens and enterprises, including electronic information portal, email system, electronic single-window system and document management system. Therefore, in order to build an e-government suitable to local characteristics, ensure the maximum use of infrastructure, programmes and information systems deployed, and reduce using costs, the Department of Information and Communications hired a consulting unit affiliated to the Ministry of Information and Communications to review the entire state of IT application in the province, helping it to advise the province on solutions and roadmaps to build e-government in line with the provincial e-government architecture framework approved by the Ministry of Information and Communications. This work is expected to be completed in 2017.

As a poor province where Khmer people reside, Soc Trang lacks budget for IT application and e-government approach. Therefore, the deployment of e-government must have a very specific roadmap where every step must be implemented synchronously with many solutions. In the short term, Soc Trang will make use of existing software and information systems, further develop and ensure compliance requirements of provincial e-government architecture, and integrate all information systems, particularly electronic information portal, email system, electronic single-window system, and document management system. Then, the province will give priority to developing information systems, attracting investment capital and enhancing administrative reform and performance of all administrative levels like public service delivery system (Level 3 and Level 4 public services) and information management systems. Furthermore, it will exploit provincial and sectoral databases and information systems to form a Big Data system to serve public administration and serve citizens and enterprises.

By 2020, Soc Trang province will basically complete the e-government model at the provincial level, connect it to the central system, and form the e-government as required by the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Government.

Constant effort for better teaching and learning quality

Ms Nguyen Thi Tuyet Ha, Director of Department of Education and Training

Over the past years, the Department of Education and Training of Soc Trang province has always seen the responsibility of raising teaching and learning quality as the most important task. The whole sector has seriously reformed and reviewed teaching methods to raise teaching and learning quality. Preschool education and universal education, particularly in disadvantaged areas and ethnic minority areas, continue to be invested for quick development. Universal primary and secondary education has been maintained and gradually upgraded in line with approved roadmaps. Schools follow standard knowledge and skill education programmes as guided by the Ministry of Education and Training.

With the aim of building and developing the education system with a suitable scale and quality to serve as the foundation for the local industrialisation and modernisation, the education sector of Soc Trang province will continue to effectively carry out education reform in the spirit of Resolution 29/TW of the Politburo, accelerate the study and following of Ho Chi Minh ideology, morality and attitude to 2021 under Directive 05-CT/TW of the Politburo dated May 15, 2016. At the same time, the sector will step up information technology application to educational management and teaching - learning activities in order to consolidate and raise comprehensive education quality. It will also launch programmes and plans to foster qualifications, morale, creativity, vision and attitude of teachers and educators to meet the sector’s reform requirements.

The sector will effectively carry out the “scheme on raising general education quality for the 2016-2020 period,” the “scheme on strengthening and developing the boarding school system for ethnic minorities in Soc Trang province in 2016 - 2020,” and the “gifted school development plan in 2016 - 2020” approved by the Provincial People’s Committee in a bid to enhance the comprehensive education quality. At the same time, it will continue arranging schools to better match local socio-economic development, consolidate and improve the quality of universal education results at all levels of preschool, primary education and high-school education, and actively carry execute the plan of building and raising national standard school quality in 2016 - 2020 as expected by policymakers.

Wholeheartedly devoted to people’s healthcare

Dr Truong Hoai Phong, Director of the Department of Health

With health workers’ persistence, efforts and fearlessness of difficulties and hardships, the health sector of Soc Trang province has overcome all challenges to gradually obtain admirable results.

So far, the province has built a health system from the province to the grassroots level to basically satisfy medical service requirements of people. Human resources are increasingly developed in both quantity and quality. Qualifications and skills of health workers have been raised. Many modern, advanced medical technological progresses have been applied. Well-invested medical facilities have facilitated accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment and saved many patients. Indicators such as patient visits and inpatient treatment look up year after year.

The preventive medicine system has been gradually consolidated and upgraded to control disease incidents. Healthcare priority policies are applied to the elderly, children, ethnic monitories and policy beneficiaries to ensure equitable access to medical services for all.

by vccinews