Textbooks will be free nationwide.

TPO - Students will receive free textbooks starting from the 2029-2030 school year under a shared library model. In this model, the State invests in purchasing books, and teachers and students can borrow them for use and return them at the end of each semester or school year.

The Ministry of Education and Training has announced a draft Decree stipulating the exemption of textbooks for general education and the roadmap for exempting tuition fees and textbooks for the subject of National Defense and Security Education (GDQPAN) at higher education and vocational education institutions.

The draft Decree stipulates that textbooks will be provided free of charge to students in general education and learners at educational institutions implementing the general education program and the continuing education program at the high school level.

The policy is implemented using a shared library model. The state invests in purchasing textbooks to equip the libraries of educational institutions. Students and teachers can borrow textbooks for use during the school year or semester and return them after the period of use ends for continued management and reuse.

Students will have access to free textbooks starting from the 2029-2030 school year.

The list of textbooks that are free to use belongs to the set of textbooks decided by the Minister of Education and Training for unified use nationwide.

According to this draft, free textbooks will be implemented nationwide starting from the 2029-2030 school year. Localities with sufficient budget are encouraged to implement the program earlier, prioritizing border areas, islands, ethnic minority and mountainous regions, and areas with particularly difficult socio -economic conditions.

In addition, the draft Decree also stipulates that the State shall ensure the provision of textbooks for the subject of National Defense and Security Education free of charge to learners at higher education and vocational education institutions in the form of borrowing and returning through libraries.

The free implementation of the National Defense and Security Education curriculum nationwide will begin in the 2027-2028 academic year.

At the same time, students are exempt from tuition fees for the compulsory National Defense and Security Education course. The state budget directly subsidizes tuition fees for training institutions.

Tuition fee exemption will be implemented from the 2027-2028 academic year after the issuance of economic and technical norms in the 2026-2027 academic year. However, students who have to retake this subject will not be eligible for tuition fee exemption.

The draft Decree stipulates that the management, procurement, allocation, use, and circulation of textbooks and teaching materials must be carried out openly and transparently; and accountability and supervision must be strengthened.

Textbooks and teaching materials purchased with state budget funds are public assets, managed and used in accordance with the law. Therefore, acts such as collecting fees illegally, supplying books not on the approved list, creating fraudulent documents, or causing losses of public assets are strictly prohibited and will be dealt with according to the law.

The implementation prioritizes maximizing the use of existing textbooks and strengthening circulation between educational institutions through a library linkage mechanism to improve budget efficiency and reduce waste.

In December 2025, the Minister of Education and Training issued a decision on the unified national set of textbooks for general education. Accordingly, the textbook series "Connecting Knowledge with Life" published by Vietnam Education Publishing House was selected as the unified set of textbooks for general education to be used in all schools from the 2026-2027 school year.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/se-mien-phi-sach-giao-khoa-ca-nuoc-post1832103.tpo