Fun and useful playground

On Saturday morning, at the Vietsovpetro Cultural and Sports Center (Vung Tau City), thousands of secondary school students in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province were able to participate in a meaningful intellectual playground. This was the direct provincial competition round of the "I love my homeland's sea and islands" contest in 2025-2026, organized by Coast Guard Region 3 in coordination with the provincial Departmentof Education and Training. The contest was chosen by the Party Committee and Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard as a point to continue to be widely deployed in localities across the country.

Different from the focused and serious study hours, the competition brings a completely new learning space, an exciting journey of knowledge discovery. In the provincial live competition round, the 100 best candidates surpassed more than 42 thousand candidates in the online competition round, competing in 4 exciting parts, including: "Going out to sea", "Crossing the waves", "Arriving at the shore" and "Setting sovereignty markers". The students showed confidence, chose the answers quickly, showing careful preparation, a solid knowledge foundation and brought exciting and dramatic competitions.

Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai and leaders of Coast Guard Region 3 congratulated the students who won high prizes in the competition.

Following the competition, Ms. Nguyen Thi Song Thuong, Principal of Nguyen An Ninh Secondary School (Vung Tau City) was pleased: "The seemingly dry knowledge about Vietnam's Law of the Sea, Vietnam's Coast Guard Law; sea and island geography, history, culture and issues related to sea and island sovereignty; timelines of important events in historical progress... were presented by the Organizing Committee in a vivid and intuitive way, both highly educational and arousing students' passion for discovery ."

The 4 exciting rounds of competition gradually increased in difficulty; there were thrilling moments when the contestants "competed" in each question to avoid being eliminated, or moments of joy and victory and enthusiastic cheers from teachers and students, motivating the contestants, creating highlights for the competition to be more attractive.

Delighted to win first prize in the contest, Hua Bao Tran, a student of class 8/5, Nguyen An Ninh Secondary School, emotionally expressed: “The contest has helped me and my friends become more aware of the responsibility of each citizen, especially the young generation, in protecting the sovereignty of our homeland’s seas and islands. By participating in the contest, we have consolidated and enriched our useful knowledge to propagate to our relatives and friends about the value and significance of our homeland’s seas and islands and the noble qualities of Uncle Ho’s soldiers.”

Not only the knowledge competition, the contest also incorporates special performances, fun and exciting contestant rescue games, and many activities to support social security development, care for poor students, and programs for the sea and islands... with deep humanitarian meaning.

Spread love and responsibility for the sea and islands

Our country's sea and islands have a particularly important position and role in the strategy of socio-economic development, national defense and security, as an outpost defense line to protect the Fatherland from the sea; at the same time, the sea is also a living space, a priceless asset and an inseparable sacred flesh and blood part of the Vietnamese people. Colonel Le Van Tu, Political Commissar of Coast Guard Region 3, said: “The contest “I love my homeland’s sea and islands” has a strong influence, attracting a large number of students to participate. This is not only an intellectual playground but also an opportunity for students to deeply understand the history, geography, and sovereignty of Vietnam’s seas and islands. Through the contest, the young generation is equipped with important knowledge about the strategic position of the sea and islands, policies for developing the marine economy, as well as the responsibility of each citizen in protecting the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland. In addition, the contest also contributes to nurturing patriotism, national pride, and encourages students to express their thoughts and feelings for the sea and islands in many creative forms.”

With the desire to build an attractive playground and useful extracurricular activities for students, since 2013, the Party Committee and Command of the Vietnam Coast Guard have deployed the "I love my homeland's sea and islands" contest to its affiliated units in the stationed areas. This is an important content, outstanding activity and highlight in the program "Coast Guard accompanies fishermen". According to Lieutenant General Bui Quoc Oai, Secretary of the Party Committee and Political Commissar of the Vietnam Coast Guard, from the positive effects of the contest, in 2024, on the basis of summarizing and evaluating the results of 10 years of organizing the contest, the Vietnam Coast Guard Command has developed and submitted to the Minister of National Defense for approval a project to organize the "I love my homeland's sea and islands" contest nationwide, for the period 2024-2030 and the following years. With the implementation of this project, propaganda work on seas and islands continues to be raised, expanded in scale, and spread strongly.

Article and photos: THANH DINH

    Source: https://www.qdnd.vn/quoc-phong-an-ninh/quoc-phong-toan-dan/lan-toa-tinh-yeu-bien-dao-que-huong-824042