'Dissecting' socialized textbooks

An economics and law education lesson of 12A12 students at Le Quy Don High School, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City – Photo: NHU HUNG

The conference to evaluate the implementation of socialized textbooks was held by the Ministry of Education and Training on December 12 with the participation of leaders of the Department of Education and Training of 63 provinces and cities. This is also the time when the compilation of textbooks has gone through a full cycle from grades 1-12.

Leaders of the Department of Education and Training of 63 provinces and cities acknowledged the advantages of implementing one program, many textbooks and the quality of textbooks having positive changes in both content and form.

What is more important is that the awareness of managers and teachers is changing in teaching according to the program along with diversifying educational materials.

However, there are still concerns and recommendations, focusing on three major stories.

Little time for experimentation

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the compilation of textbooks over a period of 5 years of experimental work was carried out in more than 2,000 classes of over 600 schools with 9,421 lessons. 73,600 students participated in experimental learning. From the experiment with the samples, the textbooks were completed. And to be objective, up to 245,700 teachers and 3,120 lecturers participated in reading and giving comments on the books.

In addition to the books being censored through rounds by the appraisal council of more than 1,404 people, the Ministry of Education and Training also invited independent experts to read, review and comment. This is a process that is more strictly established than before with a very large number of participants.

The number of authors alone, with nearly 4,000 people, is three times larger than the process of compiling books for the old program. However, at the conference, many opinions from localities said that both the experimental stage and the teachers' feedback stage still had shortcomings.

According to Mr. Bui Van Khiet, Deputy Director of the Nam Dinh Department of Education and Training, organizing experimental teaching is difficult when the time for teachers and students to access textbooks and reference materials (teacher's books, exercise books) is limited.

Meanwhile, teachers do not have access to the entire process and content of the book because they only teach one experimental period or a few random periods in the textbook of a class or grade level. Besides, teaching aids are lacking.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online lessons are not guaranteed to be effective. However, experimental teaching is very important because it helps textbook content to be verified in practice, so that authors can determine the suitability of each lesson.

Similarly, Mr. Khiet also said that there are also problems in reading comments on textbooks. The regulation requires teachers to read within 10-15 days, but the provision of textbook samples is not timely. Teachers have to both teach and read comments, so they cannot concentrate and be effective.

“A primary school teacher has to give comments on books for six subjects. Each subject has 3-5 sets of books, which makes the workload large but the time is short. Subjects with practical and experimental content are not provided with videos accompanying the experiments, even though the books require watching videos, so it is difficult to give specific comments,” said a representative of the Nam Dinh Department of Education and Training.

Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, also raised the difficulty of increasing the time for reading teachers' comments and that the reading of comments should be done by professional groups instead of individual teachers to ensure objectivity. Some departments expressed their wish that with the new textbook samples, they should have early access to the paper sample, instead of having to read the soft copy.

In the assessment of the new textbooks, the Ministry of Education and Training also admitted that besides advantages, socialized textbooks also face disadvantages in content such as errors, some books use materials and images with opposing viewpoints...

Students of Bich Son Primary School (Viet Yen town, Bac Giang) during class - Photo: Vinh Ha

Should reduce the intermediary step in choosing textbooks

Regarding the content of textbook selection, opinions at the conference were more focused. Basically, the Departments of Education and Training said that the selection and supply of books over the 3rd and 4th years of implementation have overcome many shortcomings, but are still stuck due to many procedures and having to go through intermediaries, so textbook approval is slow. This also causes difficulties for publishing units in supplying textbooks in time for the new school year.

A representative of the Vietnam Education Publishing House shared that the publishing unit is currently under pressure when implementing the Publishing Law, the Bidding Law, and the Enterprise Law. Accordingly, only when the results of textbook selection from provinces and cities are available and the number of books registered to supply are available, can the publishing house forecast the market and carry out the bidding process for purchasing printing materials and services in accordance with regulations.

Slow book selection results can lead to slow and prolonged bidding, posing a great risk to the timely supply of books to students before the new school year.

Mr. Thai Viet Tuong, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Nam province, suggested that the authority to approve the list of textbooks should be transferred to the Director of the Department of Education and Training instead of the current authority being given to the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. "Because in reality, the list of selected books is also compiled by the Department of Education and Training from the opinions and proposals of schools and teachers to advise the provincial leaders," Mr. Tuong added.

Regarding this, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Head of the Secondary Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Training, said that the regulations on textbook selection are stipulated in current legal documents, so it will not be possible to adjust as requested by the locality without amending the law.

Expressing his agreement with the recommendations of the departments, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuong, Deputy Minister of Education and Training, affirmed that the ministry will propose amending the law in the direction of adjusting the right to approve the textbook list, reducing the intermediary step.

The representative of the Ministry of Education and Training agreed with the proposal of the departments to speed up the process of selecting and supplying books so that students and teachers can have books one month before the new school year begins. The Ministry of Education and Training also asked suppliers to diversify their textbook distribution channels.

Cut costs to reduce book prices

The issue of textbook prices was further discussed at the conference. According to representatives of the Department of Education and Training, the fact that the prices of socialized textbooks are many times higher than the previous textbook prices has caused difficulties for a group of students with difficult circumstances.

However, in the assessment report, the Ministry of Education and Training said that when applying the declaration of textbook prices according to the Law on Prices, the Ministry of Education and Training coordinated with the Ministry of Finance to review the plans and requested publishing units to make maximum cuts in general costs, so book prices have cooled down.

Specifically, in 2024, the Vietnam Education Publishing House alone declared a reduction in the price of reprinted textbooks of 9.6% - 11.2% depending on each set of books. According to the General Statistics Office, the textbook price plan contributes to increasing the annual CPI index by about 0.05 percentage points.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Thai Van Tai - Head of the Department of Primary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) - said: Based on the unit price criteria (VND/page) after converting to the same specifications (book size, number of printed colors), comparing books of the same subject, same grade/level, it shows that the price of textbooks of India, Singapore, Australia and Korea is 7 - 12 times higher than the price of Vietnamese textbooks.

However, the Ministry of Education and Training admits that textbook prices are still a burden for a segment of the population and in particularly difficult areas that are not supported by state policies.

Support for disadvantaged people and policies

In the proposed solutions for textbook compilation and publishing units, the Ministry of Education and Training requires units to continue to reduce production and business stages to reduce textbook costs, strictly complying with the 2023 Price Law.

The Ministry of Education and Training also requires publishing units to strengthen their social responsibility in providing textbooks in a timely manner and supporting policy beneficiaries and those in difficulty.

Identify textbooks as learning materials only

Many opinions of the Department of Education and Training at the conference mentioned difficulties such as organizing competitions for excellent teachers, excellent students, and quality assessment tests due to students using different textbooks with large gaps in the teaching process. In the case of students transferring schools, they face difficulties when the textbooks used in the new school and the old school are different...

Discussing this, Mr. Pham Ngoc Thuong said that changing the perception of the role of textbooks needs to be stronger. When it is correctly determined that textbooks are only learning materials, and that teaching, testing and evaluating students closely follow the program and the requirements of the program, there will no longer be difficulties such as the problems raised by the Department of Education and Training.