The Ministry of Education and Training proposed to buy textbooks from the budget and put them in libraries for multiple use.

At a meeting with leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, representatives of the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Finance, the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, etc. on issues related to textbooks, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam emphasized that educational innovation is a very big issue, in which innovation of programs and textbooks is a task that receives high attention from the people. The Ministry of Education and Training must have measures to propagate, consult, and receive comments and contributions from the people because textbooks are an issue directly related to a large number of teachers, parents and students.

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam chaired a meeting on issues related to textbooks.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the textbook conference organized by the Ministry of Education and Training must clarify important issues related to new textbooks in a spirit of openness, maintaining the orientation of Resolution 29-NQ/TW on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training, while absorbing world trends, suitable to Vietnam's conditions.

At the meeting, leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training reported and clarified a number of hot issues related to textbooks that are currently of interest to the people and society, such as: Content of book sets; factors constituting book prices; stability of content and the ability to be used multiple times of current book sets; the use of supplementary books, teacher's books, reference books; scale of the book market; distribution system; proposed tax incentives for publishers, etc.

As the state management agency for professional matters, the Ministry of Education and Training has actively implemented solutions to reduce textbook prices such as amending and promulgating regulations on standards and procedures for compiling and editing textbooks; standards for organizations and individuals compiling textbooks; organization and operation of the National Council for Education and Training Assessment...

Overview of the meeting.

Notably, at the meeting, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed a plan to use the state budget to purchasetextbookput in the school library for students to borrow and use many times.

Speaking at the meeting, a representative of the Ministry of Finance affirmed that the Ministry has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training in reviewing the textbook price declaration plan of publishers; recommended that units reduce intermediary costs to reduce textbook prices.

According to the representative of the Ministry of Finance, the price of textbooks increased because the price structure includes the cost of publishing, investment costs to organize the manuscript (previously using the entire state budget and ODA capital sources) and other costs such as communication; market deployment; training, coaching and book use; cost of donating books to educational institutions... Besides, due to changes in quality, the paper size increased by 1.3 times, new books are more advanced with electronic software (videos, exercise systems, student capacity assessment...).

The representative of the Ministry of Finance suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training clearly distinguish between textbooks and reference books; at the same time, pay more attention to communication work so that people can clearly understand the cost items in compiling, printing, and distributing textbooks...

Sharing the same view, representatives of the Central Propaganda Department and the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education said that in recent times, the education sector has had many positive innovations in the issue of textbook innovation when there have been changes in quality based on standards that have been researched and referenced from textbooks around the world. However, this is an issue directly related to the majority of people, so opinions suggest that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to step up propaganda work to receive high consensus and unanimity from the people.

Taking note of the comments made at the meeting, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training said that they will soon organize forums and seminars on textbooks; combine exhibitions and displays of foreign textbooks and electronic textbooks so that experts, people, teachers, students, etc. can see the changes in the quality and form of textbooks in Vietnam today.

Do Luong district has implemented the model "Do Luong volunteer green shirt shipper brings textbooks to students". Illustrative photo

Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam also suggested that, based on the experience of other countries and the implementation practices in Vietnam, the opinions and discussions at the textbook workshop organized by the Ministry of Education and Training need to answer a number of questions such as: The expected number of textbooks in Vietnam in the coming time; the stability of the content, the ability to reuse textbooks many times after completing the innovation roadmap, moving towards digitalization and deploying electronic textbooks in the future... At the same time, clarify the regulations and instructions for using textbooks, supplementary books, and reference books related to innovation in teaching, testing, and student assessment; publicize the regulations on appraisal, compilation, and approval of textbooks to ensure the content is consistent with the program; it is necessary to publish the manuscript for society and the community to "pick out mistakes"; Evaluate the market size of textbooks, supplementary books, and reference books to propose effective solutions to support students and teachers; propose solutions to remove difficulties in pricing and tax support for businesses...

Regarding textbook support for students in difficult circumstances, the Deputy Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Education and Training to coordinate with ministries and branches to study plans to use the state budget to buy textbooks and put them in school libraries for students to borrow./.

Libra