These were the contents discussed in the 2026 program “City Leaders Meet and Listen to Children”, with the theme: “Ho Chi Minh City’s Children Steadily Step into the New Era”, on the morning of May 29 at the 272 Conference Center.
The meeting included members of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council Vo Van Minh; Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Van Thi Bach Tuyet; alternate member of the Party Central Committee, member of the City Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Manh Cuong; City Party Committee member, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Youth Union Ngo Minh Hai, along with several leaders representing the People’s Council, People’s Committee, departments, and branches, and 150 outstanding child delegates.
More free sports spaces for children, age classification for social media use
Tran Thanh Duy (Nguyen Van To Secondary School Team, Dien Hong ward) proposed adding more free sports training spaces for young athletes.
Thanh Duy argued that many current playgrounds and training grounds are limited in area and lack specialized equipment, preventing many talented children from training, affecting their physical and mental development.
Given this concern, Thanh Duy hoped that Ho Chi Minh City would expand more public sports parks specifically for children and teenagers. At the same time, there should be specific policies to encourage them to participate in sports training, improve health, and develop themselves.
Parks, flower gardens, children’s houses, etc., should be opened and prioritized for groups of young athletes to train and engage in regular activities. Separate areas should be arranged in parks for each sport, such as football, basketball, martial arts, etc., for safe training without affecting general activities.
“If the city pays adequate attention to investing in community sports spaces, it will create conditions for many children to develop their talents, improve health, and contribute to building a more dynamic, confident, and well-rounded young generation,” Duy expressed.
Do Gia Huy (Phu Hoa Secondary School Team, Phu Loi ward) said that smartphones have become “inseparable” from children at a very early age. Many children, even before learning to read, are already proficient in using phones, frequently watching short videos, junk content, and offensive material, which negatively affects their perception.
From this concern, Gia Huy proposed focusing on nurturing values from within schools. Schools could organize competitions like “Digital Safety Ambassador” to help students raise awareness about safe use of cyberspace, understand right from wrong, and proactively avoid harmful content.
Additionally, Gia Huy proposed that Ho Chi Minh City coordinate with social media platform companies to create social media applications designed for different age groups, especially children. At the same time, there should be a strict age verification process using personal identification.
Furthermore, Gia Huy hoped that authorities would strengthen inspection and strictly handle individuals posting violent, offensive content, and harmful trends on social media to build a safe online environment for children.
