Businesswoman Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, born in 1986, General Director of KDI and KDC Education - two pioneering units bringing STEM education solutions and digital citizenship skills to hundreds of thousands of students - shares with readers of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper
Reporter: As a businesswoman, why did you decide to promote the development of STEM education, or specifically science, technology and engineering for students?
- Ms. NGUYEN THI HUYEN TRANG: As a member company of KDI Holdings Group, since 2017, KDI Education was established with the mission of innovating Vietnamese education. Through this project, we hope to prepare Vietnamese students with the necessary skills and knowledge in the 4.0 era, thereby building a talented young generation. At the time of KDI Education's establishment, STEM education (abbreviation of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math - PV) was one of the new contents that the education sector was interested in researching and promoting. However, to effectively implement STEM, a systematic and synchronous investment in facilities, programs and staff is required.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, representative of KDI Education, received the SEI AWARD 2023 - Smart Education Initiative
As someone who has worked in the education sector for many years, I understand the difficulties from the school side. Therefore, I and the founding team of the company have conducted a lot of research and studied in advanced educational systems in the world such as the US, Israel, Singapore, and then decided to bring the Makerspace model, also known as the Makerspace, to Vietnam. At the Makerspace built by KDI Education, for the first time, students at public schools in Vietnam have the opportunity to access modern technology and engineering educational equipment to realize all their ideas into a real product.
Up to now, after 7 years of implementation, what results has the Innovation Space model brought?
- Currently, KDI Education is developing nearly 250 classrooms following the Makerspace model in 8 provinces and cities across the country with more than 200,000 students studying. Through STEM education solutions at Makerspace, students have access to learning content on invention skills, programming, automation and artificial intelligence, thereby applying interdisciplinary knowledge to create solutions to solve a specific problem. Many automatic models with quality knowledge and ideas such as smart homes, smart agriculture or AI applications for facial recognition are created by students during their learning process with KDI Education.
Outside of school hours, we also create many playgrounds and competitions on programming, robotics or artificial intelligence for students, attracting thousands of participants nationwide. Among them is the AI Hackathon 2024 artificial intelligence programming competition jointly organized by KDI Education and the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City with 350 registered teams, currently preparing to enter the preliminary competition stage.
Promoting digital citizenship skills education solutions
Besides STEM, you and your colleagues are developing solutions to educate digital citizenship skills for students. Why did you choose to develop this field?
- Since 2021, realizing that the rate of Vietnamese children using the internet and technology devices is increasing, while equipping them with the necessary skills to protect themselves in cyberspace is being neglected, we decided to establish KDC Education.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang (right) awards the student who won the AI Hackathon 2023. Photo: PHUC LAM
KDC Education is a subsidiary of KDI Education, focusing on researching and promoting digital citizenship education solutions, a concept familiar to children in developed countries but new to Vietnamese students. Through this program, children are trained in safe internet usage skills, effective digital device usage skills, and how to balance online time and direct interactions in life.
The product was born in line with the needs of parents, students and schools, so it was very well received. Currently, KDC Education is teaching nearly 50,000 students in Ho Chi Minh City and some provinces and cities.
In the 2024-2025 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training has made digital citizenship education a mandatory task for primary schools nationwide. What are your plans to expand digital skills education for students?
- Educating students on digital citizenship skills, especially at primary school level, is of particular importance, because this is the age when they begin to explore and use information and communication technology. Using information and communication technology safely, avoiding risks and helping them develop multidimensional thinking and creative skills in the digital age is extremely necessary.
We hope to contribute to bringing digital citizenship education content to schools across the country, especially primary schools in remote areas - where students still have many difficulties, disadvantages, and have little access to information technology. Because every Vietnamese child born in the digital age, whether in urban or rural areas, is a digital citizen and needs to be equipped with the necessary skills.
To replicate the digital citizenship skills education model in many provinces and cities, the team of experts at KDC Education has invested in developing a systematic digital learning materials system called Digiskills. Through Digiskills, with all lesson plans, lesson plans and illustrative videos prepared, teachers anywhere can confidently conduct effective digital citizenship skills lessons.
Overcoming challenges for students to have a solid future
As a young entrepreneur focusing on relatively new areas of education in Vietnam, what difficulties and challenges do you encounter? What motivates you to stick with education, especially in teaching skills to students?
- We really want to contribute to educating a young generation that is comprehensively developed, talented, creative and innovative. First of all, we must recruit a dedicated, professional and responsible team. We must have professional training policies, attraction and support policies to be able to recruit a team that meets the requirements. In addition, we must gather a team of domestic and foreign experts and collaborators to build training programs and quality products suitable for students of all levels, thereby creating prestige with localities, educational institutions, parents, students, etc.
In your opinion, how do we need to create a family environment and connect school and family?
- According to statistics, in Vietnam, about 82% of children aged 7-13 use the internet, increasing to 93% for children aged 14-15. Vietnamese children are equipped with phones 4 years earlier than children in the world. This fact shows that cyberspace and the digital environment are influencing children's development. Vietnamese children interact on the internet very early without knowledge and skills about internet safety; this requires effective education, orientation and management.
As a mother, I am very concerned when I know that most children have access to phones and the internet quite comfortably at home. I think, not only teachers, but also parents need to access skills in the information technology era to be able to support and guide their children in using the internet. The basic skills that parents should learn are the skills to search, read and understand information and data in the digital environment, communication skills and coordination in using digital technologies, problem-solving skills, information security skills...
In addition to work, I also have to spend time talking to my children, finding out what they usually do on the internet, watching a video they like with them... From there, I share and guide them on what content they should access and for how long. However, the truth is that cyberspace is too complicated and contains many unhealthy risks, so we need to pay more attention and care for our children.
We also hope that the digital citizenship skills that KDI Education builds and develops can be accessible to parents and every family.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/nu-doanh-nhan-tre-voi-khat-vong-doi-moi-giao-duc-viet-nam-196241010211011446.htm
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