Need to compile textbooks with fundamental innovations

Continuing the working program at the 8th session, on the afternoon of November 11, National Assembly deputies discussed in groups the draft Law on promulgation of legal documents and the Project on innovation of general education programs and textbooks.

Limit the number of entities with the authority to issue legal documents

Considered as the “law of the law,” the legal foundation for perfecting the Vietnamese legal system, the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents is recognized by delegates as a very important law in our country’s legal system. The Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents was amended and developed in the context of the National Assembly having just passed the new Constitution, creating a broad constitutional framework for more clearly defining the division of labor, coordination, and control between state agencies in the implementation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers; promoting human rights and civil rights, accordingly, human rights and civil rights can only be limited according to the provisions of law.

Quang Ninh Province National Assembly delegate Vu Chi Thuc speaks at the group. Photo: VNA

From this assessment, delegates believe that it is necessary to develop and promulgate the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents on the basis of amending, supplementing and consolidating the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents in 2008 and the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents of People's Councils and People's Committees in 2004.

According to delegate Dao Van Binh (Hanoi), the merger of the two laws to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of the past is extremely necessary, including redefining the authority to issue legal documents of the subjects in the direction of limiting the number of competent agencies to issue documents, simplifying the issuance procedures to meet the requirements of economic and social management in the context and spirit of the new Constitution.

However, delegates said that merging the two Laws into one called the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents makes the Law have a wide and unclear scope of regulation. The name of the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents is not complete, does not reflect all the contents stated in the draft, especially the process of organizing the implementation of legal documents is considered a decisive step for the effectiveness and efficiency of state management through the function of developing and promulgating legal documents and is a measure of the actual value of the document, delegate Dao Van Binh affirmed.

While delegate Dao Van Binh proposed to change the name of the Law to Law on promulgation and organization of implementation of legal documents, delegates Tran Ngoc Vinh (Hai Phong), Le Dong Phong and Truong Thi Anh (Ho Chi Minh City) proposed to keep the name Law on promulgation of legal documents as the name in the 2014 Law and Ordinance Building Program.

According to delegate Dinh Xuan Thao (Hanoi), the name and scope of the draft Law are reluctant and inappropriate. Delegate Chu Son Ha (Hanoi) said that the scope of regulation listed in the draft Law is not complete; he proposed to clearly distinguish between legal documents and normative legal documents, and which entity has the authority to issue them.

Many opinions say that although the draft Law has reduced the authority of a number of entities in the direction of reducing and limiting the number of entities with the authority to issue legal documents, this reform is not thorough and is not really consistent with the provisions of the 2013 Constitution. To ensure the consistency of the legal document system as well as its synchronous effectiveness, it is necessary to be more bold in limiting the number of entities with the authority to issue and the form of legal documents issued.

Concerned that we are building laws without a system of viewpoints, delegate Tran Du Lich (Ho Chi Minh City) said that there are 3 types of legislative documents, regulatory and legislative authorization, it is necessary to clarify what is legislative and legislative authorization, clearly separate legislative and regulatory, not use general laws. The provision like Article 13 in the draft Law is unreasonable, the Government is not allowed to issue policies but the People's Council is allowed to issue them is disorderly, not doing the root, but doing the tip. It is necessary to clarify that the National Assembly legislates, the Government and the Court make regulations.

Commenting that many social issues arise that cannot be fully covered by the law, leading to difficulties in adjudication, delegate Huynh Ngoc Anh (Ho Chi Minh City) expressed his opinion: the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is not allowed to issue legal documents, which will lead to a situation where the adjudication levels across the country cannot be unified, and the drafting committee needs to study carefully.

Delegates also agreed that commune and district authorities should not have the authority to issue legal documents, because these two levels are mainly responsible for implementation.

One program, many textbooks policy - a matter of concern

Giving opinions on the content of the Project on innovation of general education programs and textbooks, the majority of delegates agreed on the necessity of building programs and compiling textbooks with fundamental and comprehensive innovations in goals, content, methods and forms of teaching, testing, assessment of education quality and program management and implementation.

However, the content of the Project, especially the implementation roadmap, the development of one or more sets of books, whether the Ministry of Education and Training should participate in developing a set of books, changing all textbooks or making changes in a legacy manner... are issues that have received many opinions from National Assembly delegates.

Delegate Huynh Minh Thien (Ho Chi Minh City), delegate Le Nam (Thanh Hoa) and some delegates said that the development of the Project is very necessary but the quality of the Project needs more attention. Delegate Huynh Minh Thien said that the issuance of the project is very necessary but not enough, because to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education, it is necessary to innovate the textbook program, educational methods and staff, management and there needs to be a specific roadmap for the above steps. Delegate Le Nam suggested that the project's objectives should be expressed more concisely and clearly with 4 main requirements set for the innovation of general education programs and textbooks.

Regarding this issue, delegate Vo Thi Dung (Ho Chi Minh City) said that the roadmap and implementation methods still cause many concerns when the impact of the project implementation on society and the impact of the innovation results on the country have not been assessed.

Expressing agreement with the policy of a multi-textbook program, delegates Huynh Minh Thien, Tran Hoang Ngan (Ho Chi Minh City), Bui Thi An (Hanoi)... all said that this policy brings many benefits because it meets the diverse needs of textbook users, has many textbooks suitable for each region, area, and local characteristics, and mobilizes the intelligence of publishers, organizations, and individuals... Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan said that having 4 to 5 sets of textbooks is appropriate.

However, delegates expressed disagreement with the plan for the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks, and for organizations and individuals to compile other textbooks because according to delegates Huynh Minh Thien, Vo Thi Dung and some delegates, the Ministry of Education and Training's organization of textbook compilation is "playing football and blowing the whistle at the same time." Compiling and managing textbooks at the same time is not objective when evaluating the quality of textbooks. When the Ministry compiles textbooks, it will force local Departments of Education and Training to use them because if the Ministry compiles them, it will have to take the state budget, and if it does not use them, it will be a waste...

Delegates also expressed concern that the project did not have a comprehensive assessment of the old textbooks and questioned whether all the books would be replaced or only those with inappropriate content; at the same time, they suggested clearly specifying this content in the project. In addition, there needs to be a comprehensive assessment of the current textbook program in a more detailed and specific manner, clearly identifying what is appropriate and what is not appropriate... because only when the above content is evaluated can a suitable roadmap for innovation be built.

Delegate Tran Hoang Ngan said that currently, the old textbooks do not ensure the balance between teaching letters and teaching people, are too heavy on theory, hindering students' creative thinking ability, have too much knowledge, many regions, have not determined output standards, Circular 30 on primary school student assessment is still heavy... He suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training should overcome these problems as soon as possible, there is no need to wait for the project.

Most delegates expressed concerns that such a major change to education without a pilot program and mass implementation in 2018 was not advisable. More careful steps are needed, a pilot program is needed, and the pros and cons need to be evaluated... Many delegates raised the issue of the longevity of the upcoming textbook series, the plan for organizing individuals to participate in developing the series, and the implementation method... which have not been mentioned in the project.

According to Vietnam+