To train high-quality human resource for smart city construction

More than 4 years after launching the Smart City project, Binh Duong has gained some good results. Namely, over three consecutive years 2019, 2020, and 2021, Binh Duong was honored as one of the 21 localities having the world's model smart city development strategy. Binh Duong identifies human as the central factor in building a smart city, makes breakthroughs, facilitates innovations and creativity in education and training to create high-quality human resource that meet requirements of smart city construction.

Building a smart city requires smart people. With the mission of cultivating people, Binh Duong Education and Training branch has been making steady and breakthrough steps to train high-quality human resource for the development of the province, with a long-term strategy is to build a smart city.

Modern teaching equipment

 To have intelligent people meeting the development of modern society, it is necessary to build smart schools. Facing the current innovation requirements, the entire education and training branch has accelerated the implementation of fundamental and comprehensive innovation. In addition to the fundamental innovation, along with improving the quality of teachers, renewing the form of teaching activities, education and training sector has also increased investment in material facilities and teaching equipment for schools at all levels.

A practice class of robot assembly for students of Dinh Hoa Junior High School.

Nguyen Van Phong, Deputy Director of provincial Department of Education and Training, this branch's leaders regularly invested in, supplemented teaching equipment, especially advanced and modern equipment to meet the demand for teaching and learning renovation of schools. During the 2016-2020 period, the investment and purchase of teaching equipment for schools at all levels gained good results, met the requirements of teaching activities and educational administration. Only in 2020, Department of Education and Training made two purchases to improve the quality of education for the 2020-2021 school year with a total cost of nearly 600 billion VND; invested in 2,400 classrooms equipped with advanced teaching equipment for 97 schools. In the 2021-2025 period, with a vision towards 2030, the Education and Training sector continues to purchase advanced and modern teaching equipment for teaching and educational administration in schools.

The application of information technology (IT) in management and teaching is also boosted to actively build up a smart education environment meeting the requirements of sustainable development, and improve the quality of teaching. Most teachers of schools have become accustomed to using modern equipment for teaching and planning lessons. Teachers have studied software and applications suitable to their teaching expertise. Some teachers have applied e-learning lesson preparation. Currently, there are over 14,000 teachers applying IT into class teaching, more than 6,000 teachers can prepare e-learning lessons.

To enhance STEM education

STEM education has become an inevitable development trend in the current period. At beginning of this school year, Department of Education and Training cooperated with Department of Science and Technology to hold a training course to improve teaching capacity in the direction of STEM / STEAM for middle and high school teachers in the following subjects: Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics and technology. Teachers were equipped with basic knowledge and did a practice according to standards of modern STEM / STEAM educational programs; knowledge and skills to set up practical STEM / STEAM integrated lessons for students.

Not only in this school year, but for many years, Department of Education and Training has directed schools to diversify forms of learning, focus on creative experiences and scientific research activities of students.

STEM education is practical teaching, learning with practice, studying through research to help students explore, examine, demonstrate through scientific and technical competitions held annually. Contests are useful playgrounds, a premise for students to arouse their passion for creativity, especially students boldly apply their learned knowledge into practice, creating scientific products for learning, and nurturing creative ideas of students.

Dinh Hoa Junior High School is one of the three junior high schools of Thu Dau Mot city equipped with STEM classrooms. The classrooms are equipped with modern equipment, used for many subjects such as: Technology, physics, biology, informatics ... Accordingly, components are used for physics class; in informatics class, students learn and practice robot assembly; technology class with 3D printer, along with saws and chisels, teachers can customize these to teach students. Teachers of the above subjects were trained and have gradually applied STEM teaching for students. Students are extremely excited as learning in modern classrooms, applying their learned knowledge to successfully assemble robots.

It can be said that the focused and methodical investment has brought encouraging results, as Binh Duong achieved high results in national excellent student exams, high school graduation exams, and creative scientific technological competitions at all levels. This has trained high-quality human resources for the province's development and Binh Duong smart city building. 

Reported by Hong Thai - Translated by Ngoc Huynh