Hanoi (VNA) - Lookingꦉ at the steam rising from a cup of ꦰhot tea in the midst of winter in Hanoi, Hoa shared that when her Party membership was terminated, she felt extremely regretful.

“All my efforts during my youth have flown away like steam, but what remains is I still try to live and contribute to the country like a Party member and an outstanding civilian”, Hoa said as she sadly showed her old Party membership card which she has kept as a treasure over the past decade.

Problem of moving to other Party cells

With outstanding academic performance and an active role in youth union activities, Hoa was admitted to the Party when she was a fourth-year student in university. “My admission to the Party was a pride of my family. My parents boasted about it all over the village”, she recalled. Graduating with distinction, Hoa earned a job with a Korean firm in the northern province of Bac Ninh. As the company has no Party cell, Hoa still left her Party dossier in university. “In the first two years, I had a hard time commuting between the workplace and the university to attend regular Party activities. Meanwhile, my places of work also changed constantly, sometimes in Bac Ninh, sometimes in Vinh Phuc, which made me unable to frequently participate in Party activities. The university asked me to transfer to another more suitable Party cell”, she told. Hoa registered for the Party cell at her residential area, but long and continuous business trips also made it hard for her to join Party activities regularly. “When the secretary of the local Party cell called me to say that if I cannot attend the cell’s regular activities, the cell would have to remove me from membership status, I thought as a Party member, I had failed to observe the Party rules, so I accept to have my Party membership removed,” Hoa said. Permanent Vice Secretary of the Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST)’s Party Committee Bui Duc Hung said he has witnesses many students-Party members facing the same problem as Hoa. In order to be admitted to the Party, students usually have to strive tirelessly for three years, and those who become Party members while in universities are often outstanding students. However, as study time only lasts four to five years, they will have to transfer to other Party cells after graduating. “Normally they can transfer to Party cells at their workplace or residential areas. But many newly-graduating students are not able to find a permanent job in a short time, or stay in a permanent place for a long time. In some cases, newly-graduating students find it hard to integrate into Party cells in their residential areas where most of members are retirees. Therefore, after graduating from university, many are not able to attend regular Party activities as required by Party rules, leading to their memberships annulled”, Hung said. According to him, the HUST’s Party Committee tried to help the students by allowing them to continue participating in the university’s Party organization after graduation, but the duration could not be longer than six months because the university is unable to manage them.

Barrier to Party development among students

Hung said once the Party membership is annulled, it is very difficult to seek admission again.  Facing this obstacle, many students are hesitant about joining the Party when in university. Vice Chairman of the HUST’s Students Association Do Duc Thang said for many young people, becoming a Party member is not an immediate consideration for many students, as they have various goals, such as travelling overseas for further study or finding a good job. Therefore, their first priority will be study. Many are worried that making efforts to join the Party would affect their academic performance. “It is one of the reasons that Party building work in HUST has been below expectation”, he said. Hung said there are even rumours that it will be difficult for Party members to get jobs with private or foreign companies, which affect the thinking of students, especially excellent students. It is a different case at the Hanoi Law University, where there are always a large number of applications for Party membership. Secretary of the university’s Party Committee Chu Manh Hung said this is attributable to the fact that most graduates from the school work for State agencies, and Party membership will be a plus when applying for jobs at courts which require high political and moral virtues. He added that Party building work in universities also meets other problems. For example, the difference in class schedule among students makes it difficult to hold gatherings to learn about the Party. Each year, there are about 100 new Party members, and an equivalent number also graduate from the university, making it hard to follow their progress./.