Contact with National Assembly deputies (Deputies of the National Assembly), delegates of People's Councils at all levels, everywhere, heard mention of shortcomings in textbooks, because voters and people face this problem every day. Mr. Dinh Van Be (living in Tan Phu commune, Chau Thanh district) expressed: “We often say that education is the first national policy, this is absolutely true. But now, buying textbooks at the beginning of the school year for children is hard enough, not to mention the curriculum is not suitable. It is suggested that the Central Government review this issue and create the most favorable conditions for students to access knowledge.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tung (living in Vinh Binh town, Chau Thanh district) affirmed that the process of converting textbooks is of great interest to people. Researchers and scientists "scratching their brains" writing books to impart the quintessence of knowledge to the younger generation are commendable and welcome. “However, textbooks are compiled into many different sets, the price is not cheap, creating a burden for parents and students. Poor workers and farmers wanting to send their children to school is a problem. With so much gray matter content, textbooks should be stored and handed down from generation to generation. However, the family has 2 children studying 1 year apart, the younger one can't study your books, it's too wasteful. I suggest that a book should be compiled for long-term use."
The whole country started to implement the new general education program from grade 1, school year 2020-2021. In the following years, grades 2, 3, 6, 7, 10 will follow the new program, respectively. The roadmap to change the "roll" book is carried out in parallel, according to the policy of "one program, many textbooks", giving up the publishing monopoly. During the implementation process, problems appeared, when the locality and school were confused, did not know which publisher to choose, and had to think about the reaction of people and parents about the price of each type of book.
The most controversial is when the price of textbooks is 2-3 times higher than old books. For example, the 3rd grade book set costs nearly 200.000 VND, while the old set is less than 60.000 VND. Grade 7 books cost more than 200.000 VND, higher than 80.000 VND. Grade 10 books can be up to 300.000 VND (depending on the subject combination), 140.000 VND higher than the old set. Thematic report on supervision of textbooks at the end of 2022 with the Provincial Delegation of National Assembly, Director of the Department of Education and Training (Education and Training) Tran Thi Ngoc Diem affirmed: "The price of textbooks is higher than before. However, through the inspection of the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program at educational institutions, most parents are equipped with textbooks for their children to study, only a few families in remote and mountainous areas complain about the price of textbooks. It is recommended to consider having a price support policy for textbooks, especially elementary school textbooks, to ensure that they are suitable for people's economic conditions.
On the other hand, the province encountered some problems. For example, the time to announce the results of textbook selection is quite long, after selecting a list of investment equipment, usually entering the second quarter of the fiscal year (the time when a new financial estimate has been assigned), it is difficult to supplement funds for private use for the purchase and supplement of equipment for the 2018 General Education Program.
On the other hand, each unit chooses different textbooks, resulting in different illustrations and equipment. Equipment according to instructions is rarely used by teachers, such as: pictures, videos ... because there are replacement devices (televisions connected to the Internet), if shopping, it will be wasted. For 10th grade textbooks for the academic year 2022 - 2023, a school has many combinations of subjects, students must buy books according to the chosen subject combination. Bookstores cannot package all textbooks to sell in sets as before; Parents are not used to buying books according to the school's list of announcements.
The issue of textbooks continues to "heat up" after the opinion of National Assembly Representative Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy (Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Da Nang City) at a discussion on some contents of the draft Law on Price (amended) at the 5th session, the XNUMXth National Assembly. In previous meetings, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy once discussed that buying textbooks becomes a burden for students' parents. The main reason is that book publishers (through schools) always sell textbooks with a large number of reference books. The Ministry of Education and Training received the above comments, issued a directive requesting an end to the general packaging of textbooks and reference books; There is no longer a situation where students are forced to buy reference books of any kind.
“At the 4th session, during the discussion session, I suggested that the Law on Prices (amended) should stipulate the price of textbooks in the form of a price bracket (including the maximum and minimum prices) like other commodities priced by the state. Minister of Finance, Head of the drafting committee for the draft Law on Price (amended) Ho Duc Phuc spoke before the National Assembly to accept this opinion. However, the draft law submitted to the National Assembly this time for consideration and approval does not reflect the above-received opinions; also did not explain" - National Assembly Representative Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy questioned.
At the end of 2022, the Government Inspectorate pointed out a series of violations related to the state management of textbooks, in the period 2014 - 2018. The Ministry of Education and Training designed a number of blank data tables, students can write in the textbooks. Despite requesting the general education institution, the teacher instructs students to have a sense of preservation, not to write or draw in books; but the reuse of textbooks is only about 35%. During this period, 73/193 textbooks (students can write in) were printed, released and sold more than 303 million copies. If 65% of textbooks have pages that students can write in and can't be reused, the value of waste for students' families and society is nearly 2.400 billion VND.
When many questions arise related to the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of textbooks, the National Assembly, the Government and relevant ministries and sectors need to pay attention, find solutions soon, so that parents can rest assured that their children will go to school.
