Extending from "Solving Enrollment" to "Nurturing Growth" — They Have Delivered a Heartwarming Answer Sheet on Establishing and Practicing the Correct Outlook on Political Achievement (正确政绩观)
Military Children Growing Up Happy, Officers and Soldiers Free from Worry — News Investigation No. 3 on Party Committees and Organs at All Levels Using the Correct Outlook on Political Achievement (正确政绩观) to Resolve Difficulties and Provide Assistance for Grassroots Officers and Soldiers
■ PLA Daily Reporters Wang Lingshuo and Li Weixin
[Photo caption] A naval unit organizes military children to participate in National Day activities (file photo). Photo by Xia Zehua.
"Thanks to the organization's concern, the matter of my child's school transfer has been taken care of." Not long ago, Sergeant Zhang, a soldier from Jingmen, Hubei, who was away on high-altitude garrison training, received a phone call from his wife, and a weight was finally lifted from his heart. Previously, because his wife had suddenly fallen ill, his child urgently needed a temporary cross-district school transfer. Sergeant Zhang, thousands of li away, turned to the Jingmen Military Sub-Command for help. Upon learning of the situation, the sub-command rapidly activated its emergency mechanism, coordinated with relevant local departments, and quickly completed all the necessary procedures for the child.
"Military children's schooling concerns the vital interests of officers and soldiers — we must find every way possible to handle it quickly and well." When speaking of this matter, Staff Officer Gong of the Jingmen Military Sub-Command's tone carried unmistakable resolve.
When the reporter opened the sub-command's "Serving Soldiers" logbook, numerous difficulties related to military children's education reported by officers and soldiers were recorded: "Hometown enrollment policies change quickly; it is hard to keep up while serving on the frontier, which can easily affect children's schooling." "Handling enrollment procedures requires running back and forth, consuming too much time and energy." … Staff Officer Gong told the reporter that these were the genuine pain points of officers and soldiers captured by the sub-command's organs through forums, follow-up visits, and similar occasions.
Since 2021, the organs of the Central Military Commission (CMC), together with relevant departments of central and state organs, have successively issued documents including the "Several Opinions on Further Improving Educational Preferential Treatment for Military Personnel's Children" and the "Notice on Further Improving Employment Placement for Military Personnel's Accompanying Family Members," granting educational preferential treatment to military personnel's children, adjusting the relevant funding systems for childcare and education of military personnel's children, strengthening the construction of preparatory classes (预科班) for children of frontier soldiers, and providing a policy basis and implementation handle for carrying out social preferential treatment for military family members and children in the new era.
"The policy implementation rate does not simply equal the satisfaction rate of officers and soldiers." The sub-command's leadership explained that in recent years, Jingmen City's military and civilian forces have worked together to drive the implementation of relevant policies, cumulatively handling enrollment and transfer matters for more than 300 military children. However, their investigation found that hidden concerns remained behind the encouraging results — soldiers from Jingmen mostly serve in other provinces or remote areas, and school enrollment procedures often require offline processing, giving rise to practical problems such as difficulty following up on procedures and difficulty coordinating special circumstances, which left many officers and soldiers feeling "at a loss."
Since the beginning of this year, the Jingmen Military Sub-Command Party Committee has converted the results of study and education on establishing and practicing the correct outlook on political achievement (正确政绩观) into concrete action, shifting from driving policy implementation to precisely meeting needs: periodically mailing enrollment policy reminder cards to frontier and coastal defense soldiers' families, establishing a dedicated proxy-service window for military family members, with the people's armed forces departments (人武部) selecting dedicated personnel to handle procedures, and building an online green channel for military children's enrollment.
"In the past, handling enrollment for military children involved eligibility review at the military sub-command and registration and admission at the education bureau — the relatively cumbersome process led to long processing times and low efficiency." Staff Officer Gong explained that to address this problem, they coordinated with local education, military-civilian support (双拥), and other departments to open up data interfaces and incorporate military children's enrollment into the city's unified admissions system. "Online submission of materials, coordinated proxy handling by departments, and priority review and admission — these measures have truly achieved letting data do more running so that military personnel and their families have to run less." Staff Officer Gong said.
"We cannot let officers and soldiers be too distracted and burdened by their children's schooling." Although the green channel for military children's enrollment had been opened, the thinking of the Jingmen Military Sub-Command Party Committee and organs did not stop there. Through follow-up visits, they found that getting children into classrooms had only resolved the "visible difficulties" (显性困难) of military personnel and their families; the lack of companionship during growth and emotional estrangement from family were the "hidden wounds" (隐性伤痛) of military children.
This line of thinking — extending from "solving enrollment" to "nurturing growth" — was vividly confirmed at a boarding and dining station (食宿站) of a unit under the Xinjiang Military District. When the reporter visited, several military spouses and military children who had just arrived were completing check-in procedures. Entering the rooms, the reporter saw that the living facilities were complete, the bedding clean and tidy, and the desks stocked with study supplies and extracurricular reading materials.
"This is not only a warm 'home' for the children, but also a 'fueling station' for their growth and development." Zhang Yonggui, the person in charge of the boarding and dining station, explained that in the more than ten years since the station was established, its functions have expanded from the initial provision of food and lodging for military children to encompass enrollment coordination, psychological care, and academic tutoring.
Last autumn, after his children's enrollment was smoothly resolved, "Old Ma," an officer from a certain frontier defense regiment, sent his two children to the boarding and dining station. During a follow-up visit afterward, staff members found that Old Ma's brow was still furrowed. When pressed, Old Ma revealed the truth: because he was on duty at the frontier and his wife worked back in their hometown, the children rarely got to see their parents and missed their mother and father terribly.
"Enrollment is only the starting point; reunion is the destination." Similar situations made the Xinjiang Military District Party Committee leadership realize that they could not focus only on "enrollment rate" as the sole "visible indicator" (显性指标). With the concern of Party committees at all levels, the transfer of Old Ma's wife's job was settled not long ago. On the way to the station to meet Mom with the children, Old Ma said with emotion: "With the family settled, the heart is at ease, and the drive to guard the frontier is even stronger!"
From pursuing "policy implementation rate," to emphasizing "officer and soldier satisfaction," to advancing "reunion as the destination" — this shift in working approach, full of warmth, is both responsible to the overall development of the force and responsible to combat effectiveness, and is, even more so, the heartwarming answer sheet that Party committees and organs have delivered on establishing and practicing the correct outlook on political achievement (正确政绩观).
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**Eyewitness Account**
**The "Four-Thirty School" Is Thriving**
■ Propaganda Staff Officer of a Naval Unit, Xia Zehua
Every weekday afternoon, right after school lets out, a school bus loaded with military children slowly pulls into the family residential compound. After getting off, the children run cheerfully into classrooms for extracurricular activities — painting, handicrafts, dance, Chinese chess, and more. Not far away, on the training ground, officers and soldiers are drenched in sweat, their slogans ringing out loud. Laughter and the tide of military training interweave into a moving tableau.
Three years ago, shortly after I arrived at the propaganda section, I learned during an investigation that many officers and soldiers were deeply troubled by the "four-thirty" problem on workdays: this is the uniform dismissal time for schools and kindergartens in the garrison area, and the difficulty of having no one to pick up their children weighed on them like a stone.
After the investigation report was submitted, the Party Committee leadership deliberated and decided to open a "Four-Thirty School" within the barracks. The unit coordinated school buses to bring the children from school to the barracks in a group, and selected military spouses with skills in fine arts, music, dance, and other areas to serve as tutoring teachers, offering extracurricular interest classes for the children. On the day the "Four-Thirty School" opened, watching the children jump happily off the school bus and chatter their way into the classrooms, I felt a great sense of relief.
After operating for a period of time, new problems surfaced. Because military children span a wide age range, the children's needs for extracurricular classes also differed. To address this, the Party Committee deliberated and decided to hire professional teachers from local institutions to make the "second classroom" (第二课堂) truly thrive.
Adding teaching equipment, hiring professional teachers, optimizing the classroom environment … the upgraded "Four-Thirty School" is deeply beloved by military children.
Not long ago, the unit organized military children to visit a local red-themed venue in the garrison area, carrying out an extracurricular practice activity called the "Red Stories Mini-Lecture." During the activity, military child Xiao Yu displayed her own painting — a portrait of her father in his military uniform. Xiao Yu's father is a fourth-grade sergeant major (四级军士长) who carries out missions away from home year-round. "The 'Four-Thirty School' has not only enriched the children's after-school lives, but has also given them greater understanding and identification with their parents." These words from Xiao Yu's mother resonated with many military children's parents.
(Compiled by PLA Daily reporter Wang Lingshuo)
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**Not Letting a Single Child Fall Behind**
■ Senior Engineer of a Unit under the Information Support Force (信息支援部队), Li Hanpu
Not long ago, one day I stood before my unit's public notice board, looking at a list that had just been posted, and my eyes immediately welled up. On this list of candidates who had passed the eligibility review for the frontier soldiers' children university preparatory class (边防军人子女高校预科班), there was only one name — my daughter's.
I am a veteran who has served in frontier defense units for 31 years. My daughter is taking the college entrance examination this year and, under relevant policies, is eligible to apply for the frontier soldiers' children university preparatory class. However, in the preceding period, major tasks came one after another, and I was riveted to my post all day, with no time to attend to my daughter's college entrance examination matters.
One day, while I was in the equipment room calibrating instruments, the political commissar suddenly pushed open the door and said right away: "Old Li, your daughter is taking the college entrance examination this year, isn't she? I've had the organs help you handle the preparatory class application." I was momentarily stunned: "There are so many people in the unit — how could it be my turn to get priority?" The political commissar said: "The organs conducted a thorough survey. Among those who meet the application conditions, you are the only one."
Later, the unit arranged a working group specifically to liaise with the relevant departments. From the initial eligibility review to the submission of materials, from the eligibility re-examination to public notice and filing, every step was handled on my behalf ahead of time.
On the evening the list was publicly posted, I called my comrade Senior Engineer Zhao. Hearing the good news, Old Zhao laughed on the other end of the line: "Your kid is set; mine is sorted too."
Old Zhao's child also met the conditions for applying to the preparatory class, but this year some institutions had adjusted their enrollment plans and program offerings. At first, Old Zhao had not noticed the policy changes and, following the practice of previous years, selected several directions for his child. The staff officer responsible for this work noticed that Old Zhao's selections did not align with the new policies, proactively contacted Old Zhao, and after repeated discussions helped him adjust his child's application directions. Over the phone, Old Zhao kept saying to me: "If the organization hadn't been on top of it, the child's future might have been derailed."
"Policies change, but our resolve not to let a single child fall behind will not change." The unit leadership's words still ring in my ears. Today, the children are going all out to prepare for the college entrance examination, and Old Zhao and I are also wholeheartedly riveted to our posts, repaying the organization's care through concrete action.
(Compiled by PLA Daily reporters Wang Lingshuo and Bi Xiaotian)
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