The Ministry of Education and Training should compile a set of textbooks, but at the right time.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong province): At this time, if the Ministry of Education and Training compiles textbooks, it will continue to return to monopoly and many other consequences.

My point of view is that there is still a need to compile another set of books. Textbooks are also a commodity, even if they are a special commodity. Therefore, the more suppliers there are, the more products there are, the more diverse choices there are, and buyers will choose the most suitable item for themselves. That will create competition between organizations and individuals who compile books, and students, teachers, and parents will be the beneficiaries. Therefore, it cannot be said that having 4 sets of books is enough.

The question is, is it a waste for the Ministry of Education and Training to compile more textbooks? I think that the amount of budget spent to create a set of textbooks is indeed very large, but if compared to the total budget to implement the 2018 generaleducation program, it is not large.

Besides the difficulties in facilities, the most important problem is teachers. We are using a team of teachers who have been teaching the old program for decades to switch to the new program, simply printing new textbooks for them and having a few days of training. The teachers' entire mindset has not been able to change, so they find it difficult, complicated, troublesome, and hard. During the process of choosing books, teachers also feel extremely pressured.

We have not even trained teachers to teach new subjects. Teaching integrated subjects at the secondary school level still uses teachers who have been trained to teach single subjects.

Not only is the infrastructure not yet ready, we have not yet thoroughly communicated and promoted the meaning and purpose of this curriculum and textbook innovation. That has caused a lot of public opinion and pressure on the education sector.

So should the Ministry of Education and Training compile the textbooks again? I think it should, but not at this time, because at this time, if the Ministry compiles the textbooks, it will continue to have monopoly and many other consequences.

The Ministry of Education and Training should compile it at an appropriate time. That is the time when we have prepared the infrastructure conditions very carefully, when each teacher, student and parent themselves clearly understand the meaning of choosing books. When choosing books is as comfortable as when we go shopping at the supermarket, there is no pressure to force us to buy this or that item, but we will choose the most suitable book for ourselves, not necessarily following anyone.

National Assembly Delegate Hoang Van Cuong ( Hanoi City): It is necessary to determine what the goals of education are?

Compiling an additional set of textbooks or using multiple sets of textbooks, in my opinion, is not just a matter of whether it is wasteful or not, but most importantly, what is the goal of education we are aiming for? I see that Resolution 88 of 2014 on innovation of general education programs and textbooks that has been passed is a very progressive Resolution, demonstrating progressive awareness in creating a liberal education environment, creating freedom for learners to choose knowledge and create knowledge for themselves. Therefore, there needs to be multiple sets of books, not just one set of books.

We have just entered the fourth year of the implementation process, but the roadmap to change the textbooks and curriculum is not 4 years, but the process lasts from the first year of class to the last year of graduation. Therefore, we must clearly determine whether the direction is right or not? We must be steadfast in that direction.

If we change our strategy in the middle of the process, it will often break the program. It is true that the current textbooks may still have some imperfect elements. However, I think that is not an important issue, because textbooks do not force students to study exactly as the book says, but rather, they must evoke content and knowledge for students to understand and become their knowledge, so that students can express their intentions.

The most important thing is to find out where the gap is in the implementation of this textbook program. I think the biggest gap is the problem of whether the teaching staff is capable enough to convey our spirit or not? Now teaching does not need to follow any book, the spirit of many sets of books is like that, teachers who come to class to teach do not have to depend on a book but have to teach according to the content.

Even today, if there is a very hot social event in class, the teacher must immediately use that content to teach, but must be able to convey the knowledge.

So, it is not about teaching according to a book, we should not follow the story of having to correct this lesson like in the book, but we must train teachers, enhance the capacity of teachers. At the same time, we must enhance the awareness of society and learners about the idea of educational innovation./.

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