70 years ago, on April 4, 1949, at the request of the Government and President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s first professional newspaper school was opened in the Viet Bac resistant base. The journalism facility was named after senior patriot and newspaper writer Huynh Thuc Khang by Uncle Ho.
Speaking at the anniversary, Thuan Huu, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper and Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association (VJA), stated that the school’s first class took place over just three months, including 42 practitioners who were political, military, and press officials from across the country, who were instructed by many key figures, including Truong Chinh, Vo Nguyen Giap, Hoang Quoc Viet, Le Quang Dao, To Huu, Nguyen Thanh Le, Nguyen Dinh Thi, Nguyen Huy Tuong, Xuan Dieu, Nam Cao, The Lu, Nguyen Tuan and Quang Dam.
On July 6, 1949, the school held its closing ceremony. From the bamboo roof of the Viet Bac school the students went to the fiercest battlefields across the nation. The school is a typical example of teaching and learning in the extremely difficult context of the resistant war, said Thuan Huu, who is also Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission on Education and Communications.
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A stage reproduction of the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School at the celebration. (Photo: NDO/Nguyen Minh)
He affirmed that the 42 students and 29 lecturers of the school were the first "bricks", laying a solid foundation for the development and growth of the Vietnamese revolutionary press for over the past seven decades.
In order to engrave a historical event associated with the pioneering journalists who have contributed to the glorious tradition and vitality of Vietnam’s revolutionary journalism, the VJA has collected records, documents and artifacts related to the school. The facility was also officially recognised as a national historical site from March 28, 2019.
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Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists' Association, Ho Quang Loi (C), receives a certificate in recognition of the Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School as a National Historic Site. (Photo: NDO/Nguyen Minh)
On the occasion, the VJA also inaugurated a stele marking the National Historic Site of Huynh Thuc Khang Journalism School and received certification from the Culture, Sports and Tourism sector for the site.
Also at the ceremony, leaders and former leaders of the VJA and representatives from local authorities cut the ribbon to open a specialised display to mark the school’s 70th anniversary.
