Institutionalize the use of a unified set of textbooks

Photo caption — Chairman of the National Assembly 's Committee for Culture and Social Affairs Nguyen Dac Vinh speaks. Photo: Pham Kien/VNA

Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, member of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Social Affairs chaired the meeting.

In his opening speech, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh said that this meeting was held earlier than usual due to the importance of the work, which required discussion in advance to receive and explain promptly before submitting to the National Assembly. The Committee is expected to examine 7 draft laws, 4 resolutions and 8 reports of the Government in this session. The meeting took place in 2 days instead of the originally planned 2.5 days, requiring the delegates participating in the Committee to work scientifically and effectively.

During the discussion on the draft revised education laws and the draft National Assembly Resolution on education, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Society, said that three draft education laws: Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law, Law on Higher Education (amended) and Law on Vocational Education (amended) have been unanimously approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee for approval at the upcoming 10th session of the National Assembly. These draft laws aim to institutionalize the spirit of important resolutions of the Politburo , especially Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

One of the new points emphasized is the addition of vocational secondary education to the national education system, creating opportunities for post-secondary students to participate in programs that integrate both general knowledge and vocational skills. In addition, the key contents include: Strengthening decentralization, decentralization and educational autonomy, along with accountability of educational institutions; ensuring consistency and synchronization between these three draft laws and the approved Law on Teachers; expanding compulsory education for lower secondary education; proposing universal preschool education for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old; abolishing the regulation on granting lower secondary school graduation certificates, replacing it with confirmation of program completion.

The issue of textbooks has attracted much heated discussion. The draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education stipulates that the State will provide a set of textbooks for uniform use nationwide.

Delegate Nguyen Anh Tri (Hanoi) expressed his frank opinion on the policy of a multi-textbook program, which, while having advantages, can be said to be almost "unsuccessful" so far. The delegate suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training should organize a National Drafting Council and a National Appraisal Council. The lack of a National Drafting Council has "caused chaos" in some periods, leading to the drafting of a set of books that are "not standard, with many errors...". He also suggested that the Government make regulations to ensure free textbooks for students.

Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh agreed with the policy of a common set of textbooks, but noted the responsibility for management, and questioned the Drafting Committee of the Law on the fact that the draft law still has a provision assigning the provincial People's Committee to select textbooks. According to Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, if it is shared, this responsibility must be transferred to the Ministry of Education and Training. The Ministry not only needs to evaluate but also needs to issue regulations on what constitutes a common set of textbooks. He also suggested that the current sets of textbooks, which are intellectual products and have great reference value, should not be completely discontinued but should be retained as reference materials.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Phong) expressed concern about the urgent progress of compiling a set of common textbooks with a deadline of putting them into use in the 2026-2027 school year. She suggested that special attention should be paid to reducing the curriculum content, in the context that many teachers have reported that if they only teach according to the curriculum, the time allocated in class cannot fully cover the content. Therefore, the need for extra teaching and learning will arise.

Explaining later, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc confirmed that the draft law will institutionalize the use of a unified set of textbooks and the Ministry will review the compilation regulations in sub-law documents.

Also at the discussion session, delegate Nguyen Duy Minh (Da Nang) reflected voters' opinions on the pressure and negativity caused by the entrance exam to grade 10. Voters want the government to invest in expanding schools so that students can continue to study until they finish high school, and then proceed with the stream. Mr. Nguyen Duy Minh also suggested that the age limit for students entering grade 10 should not be 15 years old.

Commenting on the amendment of the Law on Vocational Education, delegate Nguyen Thi Thu Dung (Hung Yen) suggested that universities should not be allowed to train at the college level, except for the group of pedagogical majors (preschool teachers). According to the delegate, reality shows that many universities are currently "afraid" to accept colleges in the process of arranging the system of educational institutions, because the standards for lecturers between universities and colleges are different, leading to a decrease in the standards for lecturers of universities. According to the delegate, the connection between college and university training does not necessarily have to take place by merging college training institutions into universities, but only needs to be regulated by legal regulations.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Thu Dung also expressed concerns about the removal of the School Council for autonomous public higher education institutions of group 1, and questioned the mechanism for monitoring the preservation of assigned state capital.

Delegate Leo Thi Lich (Council of Ethnic Minorities) proposed adding regulations on drafting language learning materials for ethnic minorities to the Education Law to prevent the risk of losing the mother tongue of ethnic minorities today....

According to the Program, in the afternoon session of the same day, the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society will give opinions on the draft Law on Press (amended) and the draft Law on Drug Prevention and Control (amended).

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/the-che-hoa-noi-dung-su-dung-mot-bo-sach-giao-khoa-thong-nhat-20251011140608649.htm