On the afternoon of May 23, continuing the 5th session, the National Assembly discussed in the hall a number of contents with different opinions of the draft Law on Prices (amended).

Speaking at the discussion in the hall, National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Kim Thuy (Da Nang delegation) raised the issue of textbook prices.

Delegate Kim Thuy said that previously, when discussing textbook prices, she raised the fact that buying textbooks has become a burden for many parents, the main reason being that book publishers through schools always sell textbooks with a large number of reference books.

"I welcome the Ministry of Education and Training for accepting this opinion and issuing Directive No. 643 dated June 10, 2022: requiring an end to the situation of packaging textbooks and reference books together to force students to buy reference books in any form. Through monitoring, I see that this directive has basically been seriously implemented.

At the fourth session, during the discussion in the hall on the afternoon of November 11, 2022, I proposed that the Law on Prices (amended) assign the Government to regulate textbook prices in the form of a price frame, including maximum and minimum prices as for other items priced by the State.

Minister and Head of the Drafting Committee Ho Duc Phoc spoke before the National Assembly accepting my opinion, verbatim as follows:

“We think this idea is very good. Now in our thinking, we always think about how to regulate prices so that they are not too high, but we have not thought about how to prevent prices from being too low. When potential businesses want to take over the market, they use measures, or in other words, use tricks of big discounts to beat out other competitors, creating a monopoly profit. We would like to accept this idea,” said delegate Kim Thuy.

However, when studying the draft Law submitted to the National Assembly this time for consideration and approval, the delegate said: "The draft does not reflect the opinions of the Minister, nor does the Head of the Drafting Committee explain (although report No. 480 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly accepting, explaining, and revising this draft law is 112 pages long).

I believe that the Minister's comments to the National Assembly have demonstrated a very comprehensive, thorough and realistic assessment of the issue. If the law does not stipulate a maximum and minimum price range, the National Assembly will see the Minister's concerns become a reality.

But what is the reason that prevents the draft Law from expressing the Minister's correct opinion? Is it possible that somewhere there is a different viewpoint from Resolution 29 of the Party Central Committee on Fundamental and Comprehensive Innovation of Education and Training, the Resolution states "Diversifying learning materials" and point g, clause 3, Article 2 of Resolution 88 of the National Assembly (on innovation of general education programs and textbooks) and point b, clause 1, Article 32 of the Education Law both stipulate "socializing the compilation of textbooks?", delegate Kim Thuy shared.

According to the delegate, the 2019 revised Law on Education also shows a different viewpoint from Resolution 88 when it does not give the right to choose textbooks to "educational institutions" but to the People's Committees at the provincial level. "I keep wondering: Between the provisions of Resolution 88 and the provisions of the Law on Education, which provision is more easily exploited to serve "group interests"?", said the delegate of the Da Nang delegation.

From the above analysis, the delegate suggested that in case this National Assembly finds that the policy of socializing textbook compilation proposed by the 13th National Assembly has many shortcomings, Resolution 88 should be revised and the implementation of this policy should be terminated.

In the opposite case, the National Assembly should add necessary provisions to the Law on Prices to ensure consistency in policy; there should be no situation where the legislative body issues contradictory regulations: one side encourages socialization, the other side creates loopholes for unfair competition, limits socialization, and even risks eliminating the socialization of textbook compilation. At the same time, the delegate suggested that the above contents should be explained and clarified .