The National Assembly has decided on a nationwide set of textbooks starting from the 2026-2027 school year, and will abolish the junior high school graduation certificate.

sách giáo khoa - Ảnh 1. — Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son - Photo: GIA HAN

On the morning of December 10, with the majority of delegates in agreement, the National Assembly passed the draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education .

The National Council for Textbook Appraisal is prescribed and established by the Minister.

Notably, the amended law includes provisions regarding textbooks for general education and local educational materials.

Accordingly, textbooks implement the general education program, specifying the requirements of the general education program regarding educational goals, content, and requirements on students' qualities and abilities.

Furthermore, the guidelines include teaching methods and ways of testing and evaluating educational quality; the content and format of textbooks should not contain prejudices based on ethnicity, religion, occupation, gender, age, or social status; and textbooks should be presented in printed form, Braille, or electronic format.

The Government stipulates free textbooks for students; the Minister of Education and Training decides on a set of general education textbooks to be used uniformly nationwide.

The Law also stipulates that the national textbook appraisal council is prescribed and established by the Minister of Education and Training for each subject and educational activity to appraise textbooks. The council and its members are responsible for the content and quality of appraisal;

The Minister of Education and Training approves textbooks for use in general education institutions after they have been appraised and classified by the National Council for Textbook Appraisal; and prescribes standards and procedures for compiling and editing general education textbooks.

Presenting the report on the feedback and explanations before the National Assembly's vote, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son stated that the regulation on the use of a single textbook for general education nationwide aims to ensure that the Ministry of Education and Training can choose to compile a new set of textbooks or select and revise existing ones, depending on the practical situation and the decision of the competent authority.

Provide a free set of shared textbooks, to be completed by 2030.

In addition, the bill continues to assign the Government to regulate free textbooks for students; at the same time, it removes the provision "assigning the Government to regulate in detail the socialization of textbooks".

According to Mr. Son, in the current context, there are not enough conditions to immediately legalize the plan for a unified set of books directly compiled by the State or implemented under a socialized mechanism, because the specific plan is still being considered by competent authorities.

In addition, open regulations as in the draft help ensure the stability of the law, avoiding creating rigid constraints when the policy is still in the process of research and impact assessment.

Regarding socialization, including organizations and individuals giving and donating general education textbooks, continue to implement according to Article 16 of the current Law on Education and relevant legal regulations.

The content of textbooks is also mentioned in the National Assembly's draft resolution on a number of specific and outstanding mechanisms and policies to make breakthroughs in education and training development.

Presenting the report on the acceptance and explanation of this content, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that many delegates agreed with the regulation that the Ministry of Education and Training should decide on a single set of textbooks for unified use nationwide, to be applied from the 2026-2027 school year, with the State providing the common textbooks free of charge, to be completed by 2030.

According to Mr. Son, the resolution has specified more specifically the time to implement a set of textbooks for unified use nationwide from the 2026-2027 school year, and the State will provide free textbooks for common use, to be completed by 2030 to ensure clear and transparent implementation in accordance with the direction in Resolution 71.

The government has taken note of the opinions of the National Assembly deputies and will study them to specify in regulations, guidelines for laws, resolutions, and other documents under its authority to clarify the criteria for selecting textbooks, define the scope of free textbooks, and manage accompanying books to ensure efficient use of the budget.

Abolish the issuance of junior high school diplomas.

The amended Education Law stipulates that diplomas of the national education system are documents in paper or numerical form issued to learners upon graduation from high school; learners who complete educational programs, training programs and meet the output standards of the corresponding level in vocational education and higher education.

According to this law, diplomas of the national education system include high school diplomas, vocational high school diplomas, intermediate diplomas, college diplomas, bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, doctoral degrees, and diplomas from specialized training programs in certain specific fields and disciplines.

Thus, compared to the current regulations, the newly amended law has abolished the issuance of junior high school graduation certificates.

Instead, students who complete the primary education program and the secondary education program and meet the requirements prescribed by the Minister of Education and Training will have their transcripts confirmed by the school principal as confirming their program completion.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/quoc-hoi-quyet-mot-bo-sach-giao-khoa-toan-quoc-tu-nam-hoc-2026-2027-bo-cap-bang-tot-nghiep-thcs-20251210110728963.htm