Proactively choose new textbooks for the 2024-2025 school year

The 2024-2025 school year is the year of completing textbooks according to the 2018 general education program. At this time, publishers have introduced new textbooks for grades 5, 9 and 12 to schools in the province for teachers to choose from. This is the first year that teachers have the right to choose textbooks according to Circular No. 27/2023/TT-BGDDT dated December 28, 2023 of the Ministry of Education and Training regulating the selection of textbooks in general education institutions.

Staff and teachers of To Hieu High School, City, discuss and evaluate the selection of 12th grade textbooks according to the new general education program.

The implementation of replacing textbooks for grade 1 will start from the 2020-2021 school year. The Ministry of Education and Training has assigned schools to proactively choose textbooks for teaching. In the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, the right to choose textbooks will be assigned to the People's Committees of provinces and cities; in the 2024-2025 school year, the right to choose textbooks will be assigned to teachers. Accordingly, schools will allow teachers to proactively research and directly choose a set of textbooks for the subjects they teach from the list approved by the Ministry of Education and Training. School principals will proactively choose a set of textbooks according to requirements, demonstrating the schools' autonomy in choosing.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Quang, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, said: For the 2024-2025 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training has approved a list of new textbooks for all subjects and educational activities, including: 41 textbooks for grade 5; 48 textbooks for grade 9 and 39 textbooks for grade 12. The sector has issued a plan to organize training and fostering for managers and teachers to use textbooks for grades 5, 9 and 12. Coordinate with the Vietnam Education Publishing House to organize an online introduction of books for the 2024-2025 school year for 100% of cadres and teachers in the province teaching according to the new curriculum.

In addition, the Department of Education and Training advises the Provincial People's Committee to direct educational institutions to establish textbook selection councils at units; assign tasks to council members according to regulations. Schools direct professional groups to organize for teachers to research, discuss and evaluate textbooks of subjects under their charge; teachers of each subject exchange and discuss with professional groups to evaluate the advantages and limitations of each book, thereby selecting books for the subjects they are in charge of.

For districts and cities, textbook selection is also being carried out at schools. Meritorious teacher Tran La Giang, Head of the City Department of Education and Training, said: This is the last school year to implement the selection of new textbooks; principals are responsible for explaining the decisions and results of the proposed selection of textbooks for their schools. Currently, the department is continuing to direct schools to have subject teachers carefully study the selected textbooks and make comments and suggestions on the content that needs to be adjusted to send to the Department of Education and Training in the near future.

Chieng Sinh Primary School, City, held a meeting to select new textbooks for the 2024-2025 school year.

For high schools, in the 2024-2025 school year, grade 12 will study according to the 2018 General Education Program. Teacher Bui Ngoc Khanh, Principal of To Hieu High School, City, shared: According to the plan, in the 2024-2025 school year, the school will have 13 grade 12 classes, with more than 500 students. Following the plan of the Department of Education and Training, the school has organized for teachers to listen to introductions, study textbooks on sample copies, links of publishers, teachers write comments on each book based on the promulgation criteria. On that basis, by mid-April, the school will hold a meeting to unify and collect teachers' opinions on selecting books for the new school year.

In the 2024-2025 school year, Mai Son High-Quality Secondary School, Mai Son District, is expected to have 4 9th grade classes, with more than 130 students. After being trained to absorb the policies of superiors and learn from the workshop on the new textbooks, the school directed teachers to study the textbooks online through soft copies, from which they made comments and suggestions for each textbook. Professional groups met, made proposals and the school will hold a meeting with key staff to reach an agreement. Teacher Trinh Thi Thanh, a teacher at the school, said: To choose suitable 9th grade textbooks, teachers must study books from grades 6 to 8 in the new program, from there compare and contrast the new and the old to choose a 9th grade textbook set that ensures connectivity and communication with previous grades and is suitable for students, helping them to develop their best abilities.

Circular No. 27/2023/TT-BGDDT dated December 28, 2023 of the Ministry of Education and Training regulating the selection of textbooks in general education institutions will be applied from the 2024-2025 school year, for textbooks of the last 3 grades starting to study the 2018 General Education Program, which are grades 5, 9 and 12. Schools in the province are implementing steps to select textbooks, ensuring the principles approved by the Ministry of Education and Training, in accordance with the local socio-economic characteristics and conditions for organizing teaching and learning at schools.

Article and photos: Nguyen Thu

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