When "Small Plan" is no longer small: Looking back at an educational movement that is being distorted

A small movement – a big educational philosophy

The "Small Plan" movement was born in 1958 by the Ho Chi Minh Pioneer Youth Team, originating from the initiative of Hai Phong and Son Tay children. Initially, children collected scrap paper, scrap, increased small production... to raise funds to serve common projects and help disadvantaged children, the movement quickly spread, becoming a meaningful educational method, sustainably maintained through many generations.

It is worth mentioning that "Small Plan" has never been simply understood as an activity to collect "material". The deep nature of the movement is to educate children through specific actions, cultivating basic qualities: knowing how to save, love labor, live responsibly and know how to share with the community.

That spirit is consistent with President Ho Chi Minh's ideology: "Young people do small things, depending on their strength". It is from small things, simple actions, that children's personalities are formed - that is the core value that makes up the long-lasting vitality of the movement.

From "small things" with great educational significance to "big things" heavily burdened with formality and achievements

Currently, in many schools, the "Small Plan" movement is being misunderstood and implemented in a distorted direction, gradually losing its inherent educational nature. First of all, assigning specific targets by class, even by student, has inadvertently "administrativeized" a voluntary activity, turning "Small Plan" from an educational experience into an obligation to be completed.

Along with that, the situation of parents "replacing" is becoming increasingly common. It is not uncommon for 1st and 2nd grade students to submit up to 40-50kg of scrap paper in one batch, while this amount is clearly not possible for them to collect themselves. Most of it is bought or mobilized from outside, making the activity no longer a training process for students, but becomes a product of adults. At that time, the educational significance of the movement is almost eliminated.

Notably, achievement thinking is overshadowing educational goals. In some places, the collected quantity becomes the basis for reporting, ranking emulation or creating "movement image", while the core factor - the student's participation, experience and maturity - is underestimated. The movement is therefore "materialized", "formalized", and far from the initial goal.

The consequence is not only limited to the way of doing things, but also directly affects children's awareness. Children may form distorted thoughts: considering "Small Plan" as paying as much as possible; not needing labor, only needing material conditions; values are measured by quantity instead of meaning. This is a worrying deviation from standards in life values education, going against the spirit of personality training from small actions that the movement has once aimed for.

From being a "small thing" with great educational significance, the movement is at risk of becoming a "big thing" with material value, but empty in value.

Causes of distortion: from ways of doing things to ways of thinking

The distortion of the movement not only originates from the organization stage, but also reflects deeper issues, stemming from awareness.

The deviation of the "Small Plan" movement is not a random phenomenon, but the result of many intertwined causes, both in terms of organizational mechanism and social awareness. First of all, the emulation and evaluation mechanism in schools in some places is still heavily focused on form, valuing targets and material results, thereby creating pressure to "run after quantity". Besides, the lack of specific and unified guidance on the educational goals of the movement makes the implementation process easily distorted, each place understands and follows in a different way.

Notably, a part of parents have not fully realized the meaning of the activity, leading to a mentality of doing it for others, even "investing" to help their children achieve high results, unintentionally losing the value of training. At the same time, inspection and supervision work by management agencies in some places has not been carried out regularly and promptly, causing deviant manifestations not to be corrected early.

From a broader perspective, the impacts of the market economy, with the trend of emphasizing material values and tangible results, also contribute to fading the foundational educational values of the movement. It can be seen that the "Small Plan" is facing the risk of being "administrativeized" and "achievementized", if not recognized and adjusted in time.

Placing the movement in the requirements of building Vietnamese people today

Resolutions of the 13th and 14th Party Congresses clearly defined: building a Vietnamese person who is comprehensively developed, has morality, personality, and a good lifestyle is the central and throughout task of the country's development. In particular, Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW (dated January 7, 2026) on Vietnamese cultural development continues to emphasize the requirement to build and promote national value systems, cultural value systems and standards of Vietnamese people in the new era, in which focus is placed on forming a healthy lifestyle, sense of social responsibility, spirit of thrift, compassion and respect for the environment from the younger generation.

In that context, educational movements such as "Small Plan" are not simply extracurricular activities, but in fact a cultural and moral education channel of direct significance, contributing to realizing the Party's major goals in building people. Through specific, close and age-appropriate actions, the movement creates an environment for students to cultivate good habits, form civic consciousness, and nurture a sense of responsibility to the community and society. This is the process of "absorbing values" naturally and sustainably - something that purely theoretical education methods can hardly replace.

However, when the movement is distorted in a formalistic direction, chasing after quantity, doing things for others, it not only reduces the effectiveness of a specific activity, but also goes against the spirit of Resolution 80 on human cultural development. These manifestations inadvertently distort the standard of educational value, when promoting material results instead of training, weakening self-awareness, labor spirit and personal responsibility - core elements in the system of human values that our Party is focusing on building.

Therefore, rectifying and restoring the true nature of the "Small Plan" movement is not only a requirement for the organization of Team activities, but also a task to contribute to the implementation of strategic orientations on cultural and human development in the spirit of Resolution No. 80-NQ/TW. In other words, this is the process of protecting and consolidating a foundational education method - where small actions contribute to forming great and sustainable values of Vietnamese people in the new development period.

Restoring the true value of the movement

To bring the "Small Plan" back on track, a synchronous and consistent approach is needed.

First of all, it is necessary to restore the true educational nature of the movement, taking the training and experience of students as the center, not placing heavy emphasis on the quantity collected as an evaluation criterion.

On that basis, it is necessary to strongly innovate the content and methods of organization in a practical direction, suitable to the requirements of the times and the goal of educating green lifestyle and social responsibility for the younger generation. The focus is on organizing students to participate in specific activities close to daily life such as: practicing waste sorting at source in families, schools and public places; guiding creative recycling of reusable materials; implementing environmental protection activities associated with the community such as school cleaning, preserving village roads and alleys, planting and caring for green trees and flower beds; and developing models of thrift, sharing, aiming to help friends and those in difficult circumstances.

Thereby, shifting from a method of focusing on collecting materials to experiential activities, practicing life skills, forming self-awareness and civic responsibility right from the age of children.

At the same time, it is necessary to resolutely eliminate the target mechanism and emulation pressure, ensuring voluntariness, in accordance with the psychological characteristics of the age group. The role of teachers and team organizations needs to be promoted in the direction of orientation, guidance, creating conditions for students to "do it themselves, experience it themselves", instead of doing it for others, doing it for others, or imposing it.

Some recommendations to make the movement return to its true nature

To create substantive changes, there needs to be synchronous and unified involvement of agencies, organizations and the whole society.

First of all, the Central Committee of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union and the Central Team Council need to soon issue unified guidelines on organizing the "Small Plan" movement in the new period, clearly defining evaluation criteria based on educational values, students' training process, not taking the collected quantity as the main measure; and at the same time strengthening orientation, inspection, and timely rectifying deviant manifestations.

For the Ministry of Education and Training, it is necessary to review and adjust the integration of the movement into the emulation criteria in schools in the direction of reducing pressure, avoiding "targetization"; and at the same time strengthen inspection and examination work, ensuring that educational activities are implemented in accordance with the objectives and nature.

Party committees and local authorities need to strengthen leadership, direction and supervision of implementation at the grassroots level, promptly detect and correct manifestations of formality and achievements, ensuring that the movement is implemented substantively and in accordance with the conditions of each locality.

In addition, the family - with its role as the first and important educational environment - needs to change perceptions, properly accompany schools and Team organizations, create conditions for children to participate and experience on their own, absolutely not to do things for others, thereby contributing to forming self-awareness and personal responsibility for children from a young age.

Small Plans" is not about kilograms of scrap paper, but about how we educate a generation.

If we let the movement continue to be distorted, we will not only lose a traditional value, but also unintentionally reduce the basic lessons of labor, responsibility and personality.

Returning the "Small Plan" to its original meaning is to preserve a simple but profound education method – where small things contribute to making great people.

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