Don't let textbooks become a burden for families.

The keyword "textbooks" suddenly dominated the media after a petition for the whole country to use a common set of textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training was sent by voters from several provinces before the 9th session of the National Assembly .

The conflicting opinions on the policy of “one curriculum, many textbooks” did not arise recently. It is only after a cycle of “changing textbooks”, many shortcomings have become apparent and require a reasonable solution.

Textbooks are indispensable when children go to school, and are the number one priority of many families when their children start a new school year. But each child going to school does not only need books! Uniforms, shoes, school bags, etc. must be purchased. Boarding fees, insurance, parent fund fees, school facilities support fees, etc. must be paid. Parents who send their children to school to learn to read and write still have to shoulder many other educational expenses.

The price of books under the new curriculum has skyrocketed 3-4 times compared to the old books, making parents really worried every time a new school year begins. And the reason of “large size, nice paper” pushing up the price of books by the Ministry of Education and Training a few years ago once caused public outrage.

After many requests to reduce book prices, last year, the reprinted textbooks adjusted their prices right before the 2024-2025 school year. Accordingly, the cover price of the book "Connecting knowledge with life" decreased by 9.6% and the "Creative horizon" series decreased by 11.2%.

This is a good sign and we hope that textbook prices will continue to be reviewed, balanced and adjusted. On the other hand, the story of wasted books is always hot with endless discussions and endless complaints. When each school chooses a set of books, the fact that students cannot leave their textbooks for their acquaintances to reuse is a reality. Students who transfer schools have to buy new sets of books. The high price of books that can only be used once is truly a huge waste, while Vietnamese people have always promoted a frugal and simple lifestyle in their small daily activities: collecting old books and giving them to acquaintances.

The consequence of writing directly into textbooks is that brand new books have to be thrown away when children finish the school year. Disposable books that cannot be reused are both a waste of people's money and a waste of society. And there is also the puzzle of selling textbooks with exercise books, reference books, advanced books... but many books just sit on the shelves gathering dust.

How can textbooks be reused many times, avoiding waste? I think the proposal for the whole country to use a common set of textbooks needs to be carefully considered, comprehensively reviewed, and carefully researched to come up with a comprehensive solution to the current confusing textbook problem. Don't let textbooks become a burden for poor families!

Source: https://nld.com.vn/dien-dan-dung-de-sach-giao-khoa-tro-thanh-ganh-nang-cho-cac-gia-dinh-196250801083814788.htm