The National Assembly agency proposed to study having a set of common textbooks, gradually free for students.

On the morning of August 13, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education .

Clearly distinguish between "textbooks" and "local educational materials"

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son presented a report on the main contents related to amending and supplementing the draft law.

In particular, the revised bill assigns the head of the specialized agency under the provincial People's Committee to decide on the selection of textbooks.

Assign specialized agencies under the provincial People's Committee to compile local educational materials, the provincial appraisal council to appraise and the provincial People's Committee to approve local educational materials to enhance the responsibility of local state management in organizing the implementation of general education programs.

The Minister of Education and Training prescribes the provincial-level local educational materials appraisal council and technical standards for local educational materials.

Along with that, the bill clearly distinguishes "textbooks" and "local educational materials" to overcome practical difficulties in pricing textbooks according to the provisions of the Law on Prices.

The bill also decentralizes from the provincial People's Committee to the Department of Education and Training, and the Director of the Department of Education and Training has the task of deciding on the selection of textbooks for stable use in general education institutions in the area and organizing the compilation of local educational materials.

After that, in a preliminary review of general education textbooks, Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh stated that the Standing Committee of the Committee requested the drafting agency to conduct research in the direction of having a common set of textbooks, and at the same time, there could be other textbooks as reference materials.

Free step by step study of textbooks for students.

Regarding the organization of compilation, appraisal and transfer of authority to approve local educational materials, the Standing Committee of the Committee agrees with the provisions of the draft law amending the regulations on the authority to compile and appraise local educational materials in the direction of assigning the compilation to specialized agencies under the provincial People's Committee; the provincial appraisal council appraises.

Transfer the authority to approve local educational materials from the Minister of Education and Training to the authority of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee.

There must be a common set of textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Giving his opinion later on the content related to textbooks, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh also said that there must be a common set of general education textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training.

He reiterated that this content has been the subject of supervision by the National Assembly Standing Committee on the implementation of Resolution 88/2014 and Resolution 51/2017 of the National Assembly on innovation of general education programs and textbooks.

At the same time, this is also in line with the spirit of Resolution 88, which states that there must be a common set of general education textbooks edited by the Ministry, in addition to many other sets. Resolution 29 of the Central Committee states that there is a program with many sets of textbooks, but there is one set presided over by the Ministry.

"This has been supervised and the Ministry has also promised, there is a resolution to supervise. It is currently being implemented, so continue to urgently implement it.

Updating the law is fine, but how to record it to institutionalize resolution 29. I think we need to try to implement it because the aspirations and psychology of the whole people are very appropriate," Mr. Dinh stated.

He emphasized that the decision of the Central Government on which set of books to use in a program is very specific. When teaching, there are very specific regulations on which set of books to choose.

"The world has billions of English textbooks, each person chooses whichever set, but each school always has their own set of books. Every country has a set of books from the State, and in our country the State plays a key role," Mr. Dinh added.

Chairman of the Delegation Work Committee Nguyen Thanh Hai said the review report suggested that the drafting agency should research in the direction of having a common set of textbooks, and at the same time, possibly have other textbooks as reference materials.

However, she said that other references were not textbooks so she suggested re-studying the concept.

She said that under current regulations, there is one curriculum and many sets of textbooks. Units and schools can choose one set of textbooks and add 20% of their local education content to that set.

If the research is in the direction of having a common set of textbooks and at the same time having other textbooks as reference materials, it is necessary to consider what wording is appropriate.