One program, many textbooks is progress

sách giáo khoa - Ảnh 1. — Parents in Ho Chi Minh City buy textbooks for their children to prepare for the new school year - Photo: NHU HUNG

Regarding this proposal, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (member of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee) said that Resolution 88/2014 of the National Assembly on innovation of general education programs and textbooks issued by the National Assembly clearly states the orientation of one program and many sets of textbooks.

However, to proactively implement the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) organizes the compilation of a set of textbooks.

"This set of textbooks is assessed and approved fairly with textbooks compiled by organizations and individuals, meaning the Ministry of Education and Training plays the role of a textbook compilation agency like other organizations and individuals. However, for many reasons, up to this point the ministry has not yet compiled a set of textbooks as proposed in Resolution 88 and this has been mentioned many times," said Ms. Nga.

Why has the Ministry of Education and Training not compiled a set of textbooks yet?

* You just mentioned Resolution 88, the supervision resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee, which requires the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks in addition to the ones currently in use. However, this has not been implemented yet. What do you think about this?

- The supervision of the National Assembly Standing Committee in 2023 concluded that in order to effectively implement Resolution 88, the Ministry of Education and Training was also required to research and compile a set of textbooks. However, at that time, the Ministry also stated many reasons why it could not compile them.

Specifically, at that time, there were a number of textbooks that met quality requirements, and educational institutions selected them for students. With those sets of books, the requirements of one program with many textbooks were met.

Along with that, the ministry believes that the team of experts and scientists capable of writing textbooks and editing textbooks is currently not many and most of them have participated in compiling other textbooks. Therefore, there is a shortage of manpower. Considering that the textbooks have met the teaching requirements well, the ministry proposes to temporarily not compile them.

However, the National Assembly's viewpoint at that time still requested the ministry to continue researching to have a set of textbooks compiled by the ministry. In the report, the resolution of the National Assembly Standing Committee's supervisory delegation in 2023 also continued to reiterate this request.

According to Resolution 88, the textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training are not a common set of books but one of a number of textbooks compiled for educational institutions to choose from. With the viewpoint of such a resolution, schools can choose the textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training or other textbooks. That is, these textbooks have an equivalent role for institutions to choose from.

To let the State be completely proactive in all situations

* How do you evaluate the implementation of the policy "one program, many textbooks" in recent times?

- As someone who has worked in the education sector, I believe that the policy of one program and many textbooks is correct, progressive, and consistent with the experience of many countries with developed education systems in the world. Many countries have long given schools, and even teachers, the right to choose their own textbooks.

This policy also overcomes the limitations of the monopoly mechanism of book compilation, opens up the possibility of diversifying approaches, encouraging innovation in teaching, and at the same time ensuring the right to choice of schools and teachers.

However, in practice, implementing a program and many textbooks in recent years still have some problems and issues. Even many voters in localities, including voters in the education sector, have recently expressed their opinions and sent feedback to the Ministry of Education and Training, requesting consideration of a unified and shared set of textbooks.

This shows that this has not been implemented in the best way to promote the full superiority of one program and many sets of textbooks.

* According to you, what is the cause?

- There are many different reasons for this. Society questions why there are so many sets of textbooks, making it complicated, or does not understand the superiority of implementing one program and many sets of textbooks. They do not understand what a program means and do not understand the need to build a program standard that students need to achieve.

Curriculum standards are very important. For example, the curriculum requires students to be able to read and write fluently in Vietnamese after finishing first grade. Teachers have the right to choose any textbook to teach their students.

The new program does not care about which textbooks are used, the important thing is that after finishing grade 1, students can read and write fluently according to the prescribed standards. That is the advantage that we need to aim for and a standard regulation on the program must be issued.

Suitable for compiling a set of textbooks

* Is this the right time for the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks?

- In my opinion, it is appropriate for the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks. This does not necessarily deny the direction of many sets of textbooks. It can be understood in the direction of the State being completely proactive in all situations, ensuring that by the beginning of the new school year there are textbooks for students and ensuring the State's responsibility for this.

Need to calculate carefully

An education expert said that in the case where the Ministry of Education and Training compiles a set of textbooks (one of the textbooks to choose from), it does not rule out the possibility that all schools will return to choose and become the only set of textbooks. Because the Ministry of Education and Training is the highest state management agency for education and training, schools will have confidence that the Ministry's textbooks will be the most standard.

Therefore, this person suggested that we must carefully calculate and have specific solutions and plans to avoid causing difficulties for organizations and individuals who have invested a lot in compiling and publishing textbooks.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/mot-chuong-trinh-nhieu-bo-sach-giao-khoa-la-tien-bo-20250820231455655.htm