The history of Da Nang and its relationship with Hoang Sa (Paracel)archipelago will be introduced into the curricula at secondary and highschools in the central coastal city this year, officials have announced.

About 100,000 school textbooks, divided into two volumes, have been printed and will be distributed in the schools.

Thetextbooks contain detailed information about the city's seafaringhistory as also Vietnam's sovereignty over the islands that arecurrently occupied by China.

Titled Lich Su Da Nang (Da NangHistory), the textbooks also include information on the illegalplacement of a Chinese oil rig on the islands and the resultingconfrontation.

Nguyen Minh Hung, Deputy Director of the Da NangDepartment of Education and Training, said the idea for the textbookswas proposed by members of the city legislature, the People's Council,last July.

Hung said that the textbooks have seven and four lessons respectively for secondary school and high school students.

Whilethe secondary school students will gain general knowledge of the city'sdevelopment history, including how ancestors established the nation'ssovereignty over the region, high school students will acquire intensiveinformation on Hoang Sa.

They will learn about thehistorical evidence that clearly prove Vietnam's sovereignty over theislands, like the maps and documents dating back to the Nguyen Dynasty(1802-84).

The textbooks will focus in particular on the relationship between Hoang Sa archipelago and Da Nang city.

It is important to compile such textbooks to foster the patriotic spirit among the city's youth, Hung said.

"As citizens of Da Nang, the students must remember and understand themost important historical moments of their hometown; and reinforcetheir pride and belief in the development of the city to promote thevalues of our ancestors," he said.

Local educators have welcomed the new textbooks.

"It is a very meaningful and practical way to educate the studentsabout Vietnam's sovereignty over Hoang Sa. It is even more important asthe islands are under Da Nang's administration," said Huynh Dinh QuocThien, who heads the city's historians association.

For their part, students are excited.

Twelfth grader Phan Anh Dung from the Ngu Hanh Son High School said:"It will be great to have such textbooks in our curriculum. I think thatwe students must understand much more than anyone else about the HoangSa Islands, which are a part of our hometown."

Da Nang ishome to thousands of Vietnamese fishermen, many of whom have beeninvolved in ongoing attempts to defend Vietnam's sovereignty over HoangSa archipelago.-VNA