Accompanying the cause of education

Established in 2001, the Son La Association for Promoting Education marked the beginning of a study promotion movement in this mountainous province. Over the past 25 years, those working in study promotion and talent development have persistently mobilised even the smallest contributions to build study encouragement funds in villages, hamlets, and residential areas. The movement has spread to grassroots levels, gained strong momentum, and received broad community support.

Currently, the province has 26 study promotion associations and boards directly under the provincial association, 4,069 study promotion chapters at village, hamlet, residential group, agency, family lineage, and community levels, with more than 380,000 members, accounting for 29% of the provincial population.

According to Mai Thu Huong, Chairwoman of the provincial Association for Promoting Education, following the implementation of the two-tier local government model, the association has continued to consolidate and improve the quality of activities of study promotion associations and boards in agencies, schools, enterprises, and armed forces units across the province. At the same time, it has actively researched and gave advice on completing the consolidation and restructuring of study promotion associations at the commune and ward levels in the first quarter of 2026.

Efforts to build the Study Promotion Fund have been stepped up. To date, the total fund across the province has exceeded 25 billion VND (956,608 USD). Annual events such as “September for Study Promotion” and “Study Promotion Festival,” along with programmes like “Together with Children to School” and “Tet for Children,” have become meaningful humanitarian features associated with education promotion. These initiatives have attracted the attention and support of benefactors, donors, organisations, and businesses, creating resources to award tens of thousands of scholarships and practical rewards to disadvantaged students and outstanding talents in various fields.

A particularly notable highlight of the study promotion movement is the establishment and development of the To Hieu Scholarship Fund, which has surpassed 18 billion VND. With an innovative approach of using interest from savings deposits to fund scholarships, the fund has preserved its principal capital and grown sustainably over the years.

In addition, study promotion activities have expanded to include literacy classes, ethnic language courses, vocational training, and the transfer of scientific and technical knowledge in production at community learning centres. These initiatives help people in remote and disadvantaged areas access knowledge and improve their livelihoods. In the 2024–2025 academic year, the province opened 45 new literacy classes for more than 1,500 learners, raising the literacy rate among people aged 15–60 to 96%, maintaining Level-2 literacy standards province-wide, and achieving a secondary graduation rate of 90.3% among those aged 15–18.

Building a learning society

The study promotion and talent encouragement movement has developed widely, motivating a spirit of learning in families, clans, and communities, while promptly encouraging exemplary role models who overcome hardship through learning and inspiring a culture of learning throughout society.

By 2025, the province recorded 742,335 out of 1,404,587 “Learning Citizens,” accounting for 52.8% of the population; 244,713 out of 293,169 “Learning Families,” or 83.47%; 1,176 “Learning Clans”; 1,974 “Learning Communities”; and 902 “Learning Units.”

One exemplary “Learning Clan” in Thuan Chau commune is the Lo family in Ba Nhat hamlet. Maintaining a strong tradition of learning, the clan includes 30 households with 150 members living mainly in Ba Nhat 1 and Ba Nhat 2 hamlets. The lineage has two members with master’s degrees, 12 university graduates working in government agencies, hospitals, and armed forces units, five university students, and nearly 50 pupils from preschool to high school. According to Lo Van Tien, head of the Lo clan, strong family unity and mutual encouragement have helped younger generations support one another in pursuing education.

The “Learning Clan” movement has spread from urban areas to rural, highland, and border regions, inspiring families to motivate and support their children’s education and contributing to the development of learning communities and a learning society. In 2024, Son La city was recognised by UNESCO as part of the “Global Learning Cities” network (now the Son La Learning Community Alliance covering To Hieu, Chieng Sinh, Chieng Coi, and Chieng An wards). This recognition is a source of pride for the local education sector, acknowledging the locality’s persistent efforts in building learning communities.

According to Hoang Manh Ha, head of the Cultural and Social Affairs Division of To Hieu ward, in October 2025 the ward had the honour of representing the Son La Learning Community Alliance at an international conference on building global learning cities in Shanghai, China. The conference discussed experience and developed detailed plans to realise commitments to UNESCO on lifelong learning. This was an opportunity for Son La representatives to learn from advanced models while introducing the province’s efforts and initial achievements to the international community.

Implementing the project “Building a Learning Society for the 2021–2030 Period,” Son La continues to intensify efforts to build a learning society by mobilising the participation of authorities at all levels, sectors, and localities. Practical solutions are being applied to encourage lifelong learning and enable people to learn anytime, anywhere, in forms suitable for the digital era.

Huong added that in the new phase, the Son La Association for Promoting Education will continue to strengthen communication and mobilisation of study promotion movements, replicate effective models and good practices, conduct annual evaluations to recognise learning citizens, families, and family lineages, and actively coordinate with the Department of Education and Training to build a substantive and sustainable learning society.

Study promotion and talent encouragement in Son La is a journey of sowing trust, nurturing aspirations, and building a knowledge-based community. The “flames” of learning are being lit from hamlets to urban areas, shaping generations of learning citizens with knowledge, resolve, and ambition to jointly build a civilised society and develop their homeland.