City Party Secretary Tran Luu Quang announced the information at a meeting with voters of the TP HCM National Assembly Delegation (unit 6) on the afternoon of 24/9. Many department and agency leaders, along with nearly 1,350 voters from Binh Tien, Cho Quan, An Dong, Cho Lon, Binh Tay, Dien Hong, Binh Phu, Hoa Hung, and Vuon Lai wards, attended both in person and online.

Tran Luu Quang responds to voters, afternoon 24/9. Photo: Le Tuyet

According to the Department of Education and Training, as of 2 PM today, the city still lacks nearly 8,300 textbooks, equivalent to 0.04% of the demand, primarily in subjects such as Technology, History, and Geography. The Vietnam Education Publishing House expects to deliver enough books next week. While waiting, teachers can support students with online lectures or by guiding them to share books.

Mr. Quang noted that several reasons contributed to the textbook shortage, such as the printing and supply process being handled by only one publishing house. The Prime Minister addressed this issue at a meeting on book supply on 21/9, calling for greater diversity in printing locations and participating publishing houses.

"Given the city's capabilities, if there's a shortage of books, the city could finish printing them in just two nights," Mr. Quang stated.

City leaders also suggested not printing large quantities immediately, but rather waiting until the content of the general education curriculum is reviewed and adjusted, to avoid situations where newly printed books must be changed, leading to waste.

Once the textbook series is stable and printing is expanded to include more publishing houses, TP HCM could print its own books next year. This would primarily serve the goal of providing free textbooks through a lending system to reduce costs for parents. However, families who wish to purchase books would still have that option.

Earlier, voter Tran Hong Quang from Vuon Lai ward, reported difficulties in purchasing books for his child at the start of the school year, despite searching in many places, which affected his child's studies. He urged a swift resolution, review, and adjustment of the textbook printing, publishing, and distribution process to prevent recurrence.

Parents queue to buy textbooks at the Vietnam Education Publishing House on Nguyen Van Cu street, morning 20/8. Photo: Thanh Tung

The 2026-2027 school year saw an unprecedented textbook shortage in many provinces and cities, including Hue, Da Nang, Dak Lak, Gia Lai, and An Giang, with TP HCM particularly affected.

At the government meeting on textbook supply on 21/9, the Prime Minister requested the Minister of Education and Training to clarify the responsibilities of organizations, units, and individuals, and to handle violations strictly according to regulations.

In the long term, the Prime Minister called for diversifying textbook printing and distribution activities, avoiding reliance on a single entity; and completing a new set of textbooks for unified national use starting from the 2028-2029 school year. The copyright for the new textbook series will belong to the State.

Le Tuyet