The program is the law, while textbooks are just teaching materials.

As a secondary school teacher with more than 37 years of teaching history and experiencing many educational reforms and changes in textbooks, I personally see that the Ministry of Education and Training does not need to compile a set of textbooks at this time.

Because the 2018 General Education Program has gone more than half way and will be completed by 2025. Not to mention, there are currently at least 3 sets of textbooks put into use: Canh Dieu; Chan troi sang tao; Ket tri thuc vi cuong. Individuals, experts, and organizations have coordinated to compile 3 sets of books. The Ministry of Education and Training has also reviewed and approved textbooks for localities to choose. This is consistent with the innovative spirit of the 2018 General Education Program, which is to use many sets of books (socialization).

Legally, the program is a decree, while textbooks are just documents for teachers to teach. Each set of textbooks has different content, form, and layout, but all must be compiled based on a single, unified program of the Ministry of Education and Training. Textbooks are also reviewed, approved, and licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training before being put into teaching.

Thus, in reality, textbooks belong to the Ministry of Education and Training or the Ministry of Education and Training and the publisher jointly own the textbooks. Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training does not need to compile a separate set of books.

In terms of teaching, different sets of textbooks help schools and teachers have more choices. For example, in the 2023-2024 school year, teachers at Trinh Phong Secondary School (Dien Khanh, Khanh Hoa) chose history and geography books for grade 8 (Connecting knowledge with life series) to teach but still refer to books from the Canh Dieu and Chan troi sang tao series. The professional group also encourages this with the aim of improving teaching quality.

The Ministry of Education and Training needs to strengthen its supervisory role before having its own set of textbooks.

However, choosing a set of textbooks also raises many problems because each set has different strengths and weaknesses.

Most teachers commented that the current textbooks have many shortcomings and "errors" and that the expert groups compiled them in a "somewhat hasty" mentality. For example, the 10th grade literature textbook (Creative Horizons) has only been used for one year and has already had some adjustments.

Therefore, it is necessary for the Ministry of Education and Training to strengthen its role in inspecting current textbooks before thinking about having its own set of books, in order to promptly adjust the quality and avoid wasting any set of books.

The fact that the Ministry of Education and Training has an additional set of books is not really to solve the problem of book scarcity, but the problem here is the price of books. Therefore, instead of the Ministry having to spend resources and finances to make books, think about controlling the selling price first.

If the Ministry of Education and Training has its own set of textbooks, will this lead to a situation where the Ministry of Education and Training "both plays football and blows the whistle"? Because the Ministry of Education and Training is playing the role of quality control, organizing assessment tests (such as high school graduation exams) but has its own set of textbooks. At that time, it is inevitable that most schools will choose textbooks from the Ministry of Education and Training. And will the competition to choose books, according to the policy of one program with many sets of textbooks, lead to a situation of inequality?

Therefore, before the Ministry of Education and Training thinks about having its own set of textbooks, it needs to strengthen the role of textbook inspection and evaluation, and evaluate the effectiveness of book use.