Scarcity of textbooks: The fault of monopoly!

In just a few days, schools across the country will officially begin the new 2018-2019 school year. However, information about the shortage of textbooks, especially textbooks for the first grade, even in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, which was published in newspapers all over the past week, has surprised the public and made them wonder: Why is this happening and who is responsible?

The first grade textbook shelf at a bookstore in Hanoi has only a few books left. Photo: Nam Nguyen

A representative of the Vietnam Education Publishing House - the exclusive unit that prints and distributes textbooks - answered the first question that the shortage only occurs locally and the reason is that the number of first-grade students has increased dramatically because this school year welcomes the "Golden Goats", "Golden Pigs", and "Golden Dragons".

Another reason that cannot be blamed on choosing a good year to give birth is that local book and school equipment companies do not dare to "hold" the goods for fear of backlog of textbook replacement plans in some classes that may start from the 2019-2020 school year.

At this point, readers will understand that we cannot blame the “Golden Goat”, “Golden Pig”, or “Golden Dragon” anymore. At least six years ago, education managers and the Education Publishing House must have known about the explosion of students born in the year of the “Golden Dragon” and similarly, 11 years ago it was the “Golden Pig”, 15 years ago it was the “Golden Goat”.

That is to say, the story of parents having to run around to several bookstores, picking up individual books to gather enough books for their children to go to school in recent days due to the phenomenon of "scarcity" and "local shortage", the main responsibility belongs to the Ministry of Education and Training in general and the Education Publishing House in particular.

Even though the Education Publishing House has achieved 105% of the plan with 108.8 million textbooks, exceeding 3% compared to the same period in 2017, but the market is still lacking, then the question is, who is responsible for that plan when this is the state monopoly in printing and distributing textbooks?

A woman selling sweet soup on a street corner in Hanoi must always “listen to the situation”, research the market to see if she will prepare a full or empty pot of sweet soup tomorrow to serve customers, if she does not want her whole family to “eat sweet soup instead of rice” on a rainy day or regretfully sit and wait when “it is out of stock as soon as it comes out” because there are no “competitors” around. Obviously, the Education Publishing House has not taken into account the legitimate learning needs of students to come up with a perfect service plan, even though they are alone, “doing everything” from compilation, printing to distribution. The “local shortage of books” also shows the narrow vision and lack of responsibility of the officials managing the Education Publishing House.

Parents are "red-eyed" looking for textbooks for their children

(Baonghean.vn) - Although the first day of school has passed, many students in the province still do not have enough textbooks to prepare for the new school year. This situation may last longer because the suppliers are not yet proactive in their book sources.

For decades, the Education Publishing House has had a monopoly on this “special” product. Alone in the market, millions of “customers” come to spend money without being able to haggle over price or price, beauty or ugliness, good or bad. The story is like a sick person buying medicine, never bargaining with their life or health, no matter how expensive it is, they still buy it.

Resolution 88 of the National Assembly issued in 2014 clearly states: Implement the socialization of textbook compilation; there are a number of textbooks for each subject. To proactively implement the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training organizes the compilation of a set of textbooks. This set of textbooks is assessed and approved fairly with textbooks compiled by organizations and individuals. Resolution 29 of the Central Executive Committee issued in 2013 on comprehensive fundamental innovation of education states that organizations and individuals with capacity can participate in compiling textbooks. The choice of which books will be decided by students, parents, and teachers...

While the policy of one program - many textbooks has not yet become a reality, the Education Publishing House is still assigned the exclusive right to compile, print and distribute textbooks, and parents are forced to buy, buy at any price, the story of the above-mentioned lack of books is no longer just a few explanations and justifications. It shows that only when managers are open and eliminate the mindset of monopolizing this product, can the murmurings about the lack of books and the quality of books end.

After more than 30 years of Vietnam's innovation, economic integration and efforts to operate a market economy, why has the monopoly not been eliminated for an industry that has nothing to do with national security and is not on the list of 20 goods and services that the State has a trade monopoly on (Decree 94/2017)? Is it because of the huge profits or group interests?

People are already very tired of the changes in Vietnam's education system. It costs money because families with 2 children going to school have to buy textbooks every year, the next child cannot repeat the previous child's lessons. Students are not confident in studying because every few years the books, programs, exams, and quality assessments are changed. Then the program is heavy so they have to study extra day and night or the scandal of raising exam scores... These things are creating a burden for parents and students, creating social pressure.