Representatives of authorities and young people of Khanh Hoa province pay homage to the 64 soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the Gac Ma battle at the Gac Ma soldiers memorial site in Cam Lam district on March 14 (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The battle to defend Vietnam’s Gac Ma(Johnson South) Reef on March 14, 1988 will be officially included in the highschool curriculum, an act to pay tribute to the 64 Vietnamese martyrs and helpinfuse their unyielding spirit into future generations.
The remark was made by Prof. Pham Hong Tung,chief author of the high school history curriculum, in an interview withVietnam News Agency on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of thesea battle.
Tung, who is also head of the history faculty ofthe University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the Vietnam NationalUniversity Hanoi, said in the new high school curriculum, the Gac Ma incidentwill be taught at different levels using different methods according to schoolgrades.
Explaining why the Gac Ma battle is onlyincluded in the curriculum after 30 years since it happened, the Professor saidthat historians need a certain period of time to collect sufficientdocumentation and thoroughly study a historical event, especially thecomplicated ones relating to the country’s internal and external relations,before official information can be publicised and taught at school.
They need even more prudence if the teaching ofthose events may affect the understanding and thinking of future generations,he said.
“The inclusion of the Gac Ma battle on March 14,1988 in history textbooks is the way that we, as historians (and I believe thatpeople nationwide also agree with us), pay a tribute to the 64 soldiers whosacrificed their lives in that fight to protect the homeland’s sea and islandsovereignty and protect the sacred territory of the fatherland,” the historiansaid.
According to him, the event will be mentionedfour times in the new high school curriculum. He said that it will be part ofthe history of Vietnam, Southeast Asia and the world in the 8th and 9th gradesat junior high schools. Students will learn about the East Sea and islands ofVietnam, from geography, economy, environment and geo-politics to thesovereignty and all the struggles to protect the country’s sea and islandsovereignty on the basis of legal and historical evidence of Vietnam andinternational conventions.
That will help future generations be aware thatthe fight to defend and affirm Vietnam’s sovereignty over Hoang Sa (Paracel)and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos and the East Sea has sufficient legalfoundation, and that in the battles to defend Hoang Sa in 1974 and Gac Ma in1988, justice is on the side of the Vietnamese army and people, Tung said.
In the curriculum for senior high school level,the Gac Ma incident will be among the battles to liberate and protect thecountry’s territorial integrity, and mentioned again in lessons about the EastSea and islands.
The professor affirmed his viewpoint that theteaching of the Gac Ma battle must firstly respect the truth, but it must notrekindle feud or disagreements of the past.
The most important thing is that the teaching musteducate students to promote peace and cooperation with not only the Chinesepeople but also people around the world.
Tung added a scientific and humane approachtoward peace and cooperation are the consistent viewpoint in the teaching ofthe wars protecting the northern and southwestern borders and the marinesovereignty of Vietnam in the high school curriculum.-VNA
VNA
