On 13/3, the National Assembly Standing Committee discussed the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law. According to the draft, each subject can have one or more textbooks. The State allows the socialization of textbook compilation; provincial People's Committees, through the heads of specialized agencies, decide on the selection of textbooks for stable use in local general education institutions.

This is consistent with the provisions of Resolution 88 of 2014 of the National Assembly on renovating general education programs and textbooks. The resolution finalized the policy of one program, many textbooks, and the socialization of textbook compilation, eliminating the publishing monopoly. To proactively implement the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training organized the compilation of a textbook set with a budget of 16 million USD from a World Bank loan.

However, for various reasons, the Ministry of Education and Training was unable to implement this. The National Assembly later agreed that if each subject already had at least one textbook that had been appraised and approved, the state budget would no longer be used to compile textbooks for that subject. From 2020, the roadmap for new textbook replacement began to be implemented, with each grade level having three textbooks for schools to choose from.

Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh. Photo: National Assembly Portal

Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh. Photo: National Assembly Portal

Commenting on the draft law, Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs, proposed researching and developing a standard textbook. The Ministry of Education and Training could compile other textbooks as reference materials and gradually research policies for free textbooks for students.

Regarding the authority to compile and appraise local educational materials, the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs agreed with the draft law, assigning provincial People's Committees to organize the compilation, provincial appraisal councils to appraise, and provincial People's Committee chairmen to approve, replacing the Minister of Education and Training as is currently the case.

National Assembly Vice Chairman Nguyen Khac Dinh said that in the spirit of the National Assembly's Resolution and the Central Committee's Resolution 29, there should be a standard textbook compiled under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training, alongside other textbooks for supplementary purposes. He suggested the Ministry institutionalize this content into law to ensure strictness.

Nguyen Thanh Hai, Chairwoman of the Committee for Deputy Affairs, disagreed with calling other textbooks "reference materials". She argued that textbooks and reference materials are two different types, suggesting the draft law clarify this issue and research policies for reusing textbooks over many school years to avoid waste.

Currently, the market has three textbook sets from two publishing houses along with some individual books; with 12 million students in 9 grade levels having used new textbooks, hundreds of millions of copies have been published. Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son has repeatedly stated that it is not possible to return to using a single textbook at this time as it would cause waste and affect the goal of fundamental and comprehensive education reform.

Son Ha