Ms. Nguyen Thu Hoai, a parent whose child is in grade 6 at a middle school in Cau Giay district ( Hanoi ), said that in the list of grade 6 books the school lists for sale to parents, there are not only textbooks but also exercise books.
Parents upset about being "pickpocketed"
She had to buy her child 4 math and Vietnamese workbooks for an amount almost half the cost of buying textbooks. Similarly, Ms. Tran Hong Hai, whose child is in grade 1 in Hoang Mai district, said she had to buy the Canh Dieu book set for grade 1 according to the list provided by the school, which is 16 books, for 281,000 VND. In addition to 9 textbooks, there are also 7 workbooks: Writing practice 1, volume 1, volume 2, Vietnamese workbook 1, volume 1, volume 2, Math workbook 1, volume 1, volume 2 and Fine Arts practice book 1.
Meanwhile, according to the list approved by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the Canh Dieu book set for grade 1 includes 9 books priced at 199,000 VND. In addition, in addition to the exercise books, parents also have to buy their children a set of grade 1 supplies for 230,000 VND, higher than the price of the grade 1 textbook set. According to Ms. Tran Hong Hai, because the school only listed the Canh Dieu book list for grade 1 for the 2023-2024 school year, she and other parents registered to buy it for their children. In fact, it is inevitable that parents mistake exercise books for textbooks when schools provide ambiguous information that causes parents to misunderstand.
Textbooks are often sold with workbooks and reference books, creating a burden for parents.
The situation of "beer with peanuts", reference books, exercise books sold with textbooks has been going on for many years. Ms. Nguyen Thu Hoai was upset, during 5 years of primary school, she had to buy many books according to the school's requirements for her child but those books were almost never used. These include "Educating elegant and civilized lifestyle for Hanoi students", "Children's rights and duties", "Traffic safety"... "Schools sell textbooks with exercise books, reference books but in the end those books are not used, causing a huge waste of parents' money. The Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that teachers are not allowed to assign homework to primary school students but schools openly put exercise books in the textbook list, I really don't understand this" - Ms. Nguyen Thu Hoai expressed her opinion.
Schools and teachers "work for hire" for publishing houses
On the eve of the new school year 2022-2023, the Vietnam Education Publishing House (NXB) issued Notice No. 367 of 2022 to focal units on the policy of publishing textbooks, exercise books, teacher's books and English books with very high discounts. Accordingly, for the publishing fee of textbooks for the new General Education Program, the discount rate is 28.5% of the cover price, the highest publishing fee for exercise books is up to 35% of the cover price, and the publishing fee for teacher's books is 15% of the cover price.
According to Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former Director of the Department of Vocational Education of the Ministry of Education and Training, the discount rate for exercise books is very high and that is the reason for the situation of "beer and peanuts" in textbook distribution. The Ministry of Finance must review whether the distribution costs are reasonable. "Economic motivation may cause schools and teachers to be "hired employees" for publishers. This also leads to the risk of unfair competition, schools may choose books not because of the quality of the books but because of the large commission discount or not, at that time parents will be the ones to suffer" - Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh analyzed.
This expert also questioned whether schools should continue to be the distribution channel for textbooks and all kinds of books and reference materials. The Ministry of Education and Training must carefully consider this issue to avoid personal gain and introducing unnecessary types to parents and students. Although there is no document stipulating that schools become the distribution channel for textbooks and reference materials, for many years now, schools in Hanoi as well as in other provinces and cities have been selling books.
Choosing books is not transparent (?!)
According to current regulations, the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities establish Textbook Selection Councils. Many experts believe that the current method of selecting textbooks lacks transparency, is not objective, and does not respect the opinions of schools and teachers.
Associate Professor Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said that the current way of selecting books is very unusual. Instead of teachers who are directly teaching the class, they should be able to choose the appropriate books, but instead the authority is given to the provincial council. He also said that the regulation allowing 63 provinces and cities to establish selection councils is also an opportunity for publishing units to "collude" and compete unfairly.
Explaining the proposal of the National Assembly Standing Committee's Supervisory Delegation on the necessity of amending regulations to implement the unified selection of textbooks and give educational institutions the right to be proactive in choosing textbooks, aiming to make the right to choose textbooks belong to students, teachers, and parents, the Government's document sent to the supervisory delegation signed by Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that for each subject, teachers and students can use many sets of textbooks at the same time. However, for the same requirement to be met as prescribed in the 2018 General Education Program, textbooks have different approaches and use different learning materials.
"To guide students to study at the same time with content from many different learning sources is very difficult, requiring teachers with high pedagogical skills, students to study independently and not too many students in the class. In the current situation, many general education institutions have not met this condition" - Minister Nguyen Kim Son explained.
However, the Government believes that considering giving teachers, students and parents the right to choose textbooks is the best way to implement the democratic principle and is most suitable for the conditions of organizing teaching and learning at general education institutions. The Government is directing the Ministry of Education and Training to study and amend Circular No. 25/2020/TT-BGDDT on textbook selection in the direction of strengthening the autonomy of schools in choosing textbooks.
Ms. NGUYEN THI DOAN, former Vice President, President of Vietnam Association for Promoting Education:
Great waste for society
Publishing textbooks with reference materials and exercise books written once and then thrown away is a huge waste for society. Schools say they must have reference books, so parents have to spend money to buy them, but there are too many reference books for students to read.
The selection of textbooks for teaching, currently, is regulated by one program with many textbooks and the province is given the right to choose textbooks. This is an issue that has received many comments from the people. Such regulations easily create weaknesses in the management and direction of textbook selection. Therefore, there needs to be control and limit the number of specific and necessary reference books in each subject to avoid overload and ensure the best learning quality for students.
Associate Professor, Dr. VU TRONG RY, Vice President of Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology:
Careful research and investment are required.
In the current context, socializing textbooks is the right thing to do, but socializing means accepting the market mechanism. Currently, both teachers and students do not have the right to choose. We should not ignore those who directly use books just because of difficulties in management and organization of teaching and learning. Recommendations to the Party and the State on implementing the general education program and textbooks need to be carefully researched, sociologically investigated, and have specific data, especially for remote, isolated, and extremely difficult areas. The State needs more support to ensure textbooks for teachers and students to teach and learn.
Socializing textbooks does not mean that the State reduces its responsibility in the education sector, but needs to pay more attention to investment.
(*) See Lao Dong Newspaper from issue dated August 7
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