Ministry reports optimistically, local authorities say there are still problems

Yesterday (December 12), the Ministry of Education and Training held a conference to evaluate the socialization of textbook compilation in the 2018-2024 period.

If the textbook sample is late , teachers will not be paid.

The report of the Ministry of Education and Training is mostly optimistic and favorable information after 5 years of implementing the policy of socializing textbooks. However, localities pointed out many difficulties, obstacles and confusion when first applying.

For example, regarding the first application of the regulation that teachers and lecturers read and give comments on textbook samples before approval, the Ministry of Education and Training said that 245,700 teachers and 3,120 lecturers gave comments. However, localities expressed concerns about the quality of comments for objective reasons. In the discussion report, the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dinh province stated that the provision of textbook samples for schools to read and give comments was not timely; the reading time was short, especially each primary school teacher gave comments on 6 subjects, with each subject having 3-5 sets of books, so the effectiveness of comments was not high.

Delegates from the Department of Education and Training frankly commented on the socialization of textbook compilation in the past 5 years.

The Department also pointed out that, in some subjects with practical and experimental content, publishers do not provide accompanying videos , although the textbooks all state "video observation", publishers do not have funds for teachers to give feedback on textbooks...

The HCM City Department of Education and Training also believes that the short time for reading textbook samples leads to a situation where if a teacher is assigned to read all sample copies of a subject/educational activity, the time is not guaranteed; if divided into smaller parts, each teacher reads one sample copy, there is no comparison and overview.

Regarding textbook selection, the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dinh province also said that there are some elective subjects in high school that only have one teacher (art, music , technology, civics, etc.), so textbook selection is easily subjective. Many circulars on textbook selection are changed every year, causing difficulties for schools because they always have to update and follow new circulars. Some contents in the circular guiding and selecting textbooks of the Ministry of Education and Training are unclear (especially the regulations on professional groups for primary schools), causing difficulties in implementation.

TEXTBOOK PROVISION : MINISTRY SAYS NO SLOW, LOCALITIES COMPLAIN ABOUT SHORTAGE AND LATE DELIVERY

Regarding the supply of textbooks, the report of the Ministry of Education and Training stated optimistically: "In recent school years, no locality has lacked textbooks and has issued textbooks late or late before the start of the new school year." However, the discussions of the localities said the opposite. The Department of Education and Training of Nam Dinh province said that the registration and selection of textbooks by many students and parents still face many difficulties because each subject the textbook selection council can choose from a different set of books; the supply of textbooks by publishers is sometimes inconsistent (often lacking some textbooks in the set chosen by students and parents).

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stated that because each subject/educational activity has a number of textbooks, some parents still have difficulty buying books, and some even buy the wrong books. The Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang province shared that this locality has many particularly difficult communes, and the percentage of students who benefit from the policy of free textbooks is very high. However, due to complicated procedures, often before the new school year, there is no support money to buy books. In order for students to have textbooks, the education sector sometimes has to "owe" money for books to the supplier, even deducting money from other sources to pay in order to have books for students in time. With some educational institutions choosing textbooks from a set of books with a small quantity, suppliers have provided textbooks later than the school year's schedule, somewhat affecting the quality of teaching and learning in the locality.

Pointing out difficulties, such as some small-scale schools not having enough teachers for some subjects, so they cannot ensure the composition of the textbook selection council; organizing textbook research in too short a time..., Mr. Thai Viet Tuong, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Nam province, proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training amend the regulations in the direction of assigning the Department of Education and Training to issue decisions approving the list of textbooks used locally; providing guidance on re-selection of textbooks... Mr. Tran Tuan Khanh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of An Giang province, also agreed because he thought that this would shorten unnecessary procedures.

There are still many conflicting opinions between the Ministry of Education and Training and localities regarding the socialization of textbook compilation.

photo: peach jade

STILL "GAPS" BETWEEN TEXTBOOK SETS

Assessing the organization of teaching and learning for a program with many textbooks, the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dinh province said that this approach opens up many approaches to teaching content for teachers and students, creating conditions for teachers to promote initiative and creativity in teaching, testing and evaluation. Teachers and students have many options in choosing textbooks during the learning process to ensure suitability with local and family conditions. However, the organization of teaching and learning for a program with many textbooks leads to concerns in the process of testing, surveying, organizing competitions, teaching conferences... facing difficulties such as determining the scope of the program to create questions, teaching practice. Transferring schools during the learning process of students between localities is difficult due to the lack of synchronization in learning different sets of textbooks.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stated that some of the content and terminology used in textbooks do not ensure connectivity between subjects/educational activities. The progress of lesson content of textbooks for a subject also has significant differences between different sets of textbooks. In addition, the materials and images used in some textbooks have not been selected and simplified; some images have not been processed to focus on the main content that needs to be expressed, are limited in layout and take up space. Support for innovation in teaching methods is still limited, questions on exploiting materials, texts, and images are not profound and effective. Requirements on applying knowledge into practice are not clear; the quality of some textbook templates is still limited, even containing spelling and sentence errors...

The number of textbook authors is 3 times that of the old program.

The report of the Ministry of Education and Training said that the socialization of textbook compilation attracted a large number of editors-in-chief, editors-in-chief and authors, a total of 2,656 authors, 3 times the number of authors participating in compiling textbooks according to the 2006 General Education Program. All subjects and educational activities have textbooks compiled in the form of socialization.

The representative of the Vietnam Education Publishing House also pointed out many difficulties in forecasting demand and implementing the printing and distribution of textbooks compared to the old program. This publishing house proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training issue an early appraisal plan to create favorable conditions for authors and units with textbook samples to submit for appraisal. It is necessary to develop a set of appraisal criteria for each subject/educational activity to be more suitable instead of a set of criteria applied to all subjects as at present.

Record the proposal to transfer the decision-making authority to approve textbooks to the Department of Education and Training.

Speaking at the conclusion of the conference, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuong, Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said that the socialization of textbooks is a new and difficult task, and implementation on a national scale is inevitable. For publishers, Mr. Thuong suggested continuing to review the stages related to textbook compilation under their authority and functions; being extremely careful in editing and proofreading; saving intermediate stages, diversifying the stages of distribution so that textbooks to students and teachers are correct, sufficient, timely, of good quality, and at reasonable prices; strengthening social responsibility, supporting textbooks for students in disadvantaged areas, remote areas, ethnic minorities, and areas affected by natural disasters... Mr. Thuong also acknowledged the proposal to assign the authority to issue decisions approving the list of textbooks for local use to the Department of Education and Training and said that this content will be paid attention to in the upcoming review and amendment of the Education Law...

In the coming time, the Ministry of Education and Training said it will continue to review and supplement legal documents to facilitate the socialization of textbook compilation, and issue regulations on maximum textbook prices according to the provisions of the price law.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/xa-hoi-hoa-sach-giao-khoa-bo-bao-cao-lac-quan-dia-phuong-noi-con-vuong-mac-185241212202041892.htm