Discount and adequate supply of textbooks for the new school year in Nghe An
Textbooks are one of the items that parents are interested in before the new school year. This year, in Nghe An, in addition to book discounts, many activities to support poor and disadvantaged students are also of interest.
Book prices "cool down"
In preparation for the new school year, bookstores in Nghe An province have announced discounts of 5-10% on textbooks. In addition, the prices of many textbooks have also decreased compared to the previous school year.
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At the bookstore on Pham Dinh Toai Street (Vinh City), saleswoman Nguyen Thi Hanh brought out many textbooks to compare the prices of this year with last year.
Specifically, the 7th grade textbook set - Connecting knowledge with life of the Vietnam Education Publishing House, all 14 main textbooks in addition to the printed price listed on the book, the publisher has included a new price sticker with a discount of about 10% per book (a discount of a few thousand VND per book).
The reduction in book prices has helped families save some money at the beginning of the new school year. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoa in Quan Bau Ward (Vinh City) said: In previous years, I usually spent about 2,000,000 VND on textbooks and notebooks for my two children in primary and secondary school. This year, my family was able to reduce the price by about 300,000 VND to have more money for our children to buy other learning equipment.
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Previously, information from the Ministry of Education and Training also said that in the 2024-2025 school year, the Vietnam Education Publishing House has adjusted the selling price of reprinted textbooks (grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11) and built the selling price of textbooks for grades 5, 9, 12 (published in the first year) according to the reduced price structure of reprinted textbooks. The price reduction was implemented after the unit reviewed related cost items, especially the cost of organizing the manuscript and the costs of circulation.
Currently, the price of the textbook series "Connecting knowledge with life" has decreased by 9.6%, the price of the textbook series "Creative horizon" has decreased by 11.2%. The adjustment of textbook prices is to comply with the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training on controlling production costs, reducing costs to reduce textbook prices to support consumers. Together with the publisher, the distribution units have also conducted direct discounts with buyers.
For example, at Nghe An School Equipment and Books Joint Stock Company - the unit that supplies most of the textbooks for the province's book market, textbooks are discounted by 7%, supplementary books are discounted by 10% and English books are discounted by 5%.
Before the new school year, we expected to supply about 3 million copies of books, including textbooks and supplementary books, and to meet the textbook needs of students before the new school year. Currently, about 30% of books are supplied through schools.
The remaining amount is issued through agents in the districts and ensures supply to remote communes...
Mr. Tran Xuan Toan - Chairman of the Board of Directors, Director of Nghe An Books and School Equipment Joint Stock Company
In addition to the School Books and Equipment Joint Stock Company, this school year there are many other units participating in supplying textbooks in the province. Therefore, depending on the conditions, parents can easily buy textbooks through many different channels. Because of the proactive supply source, the situation of book shortage or lack of some books has not happened.
Even for 10th grade students, although it is not until August that schools begin to advise on subject selection and students register for textbooks, suppliers are still committed to promptly providing enough textbooks for students before the new school year.
Sharing with disadvantaged students
In just 1 month, the new school year 2024 - 2025 will officially begin. This is also the first school year that students from grades 1 to 12 across the country will study the new General Education Program instead of studying two programs in parallel as before. In addition, from this school year, instead of each province choosing a set of textbooks, schools will be able to proactively choose to suit the students and the actual conditions of the school.
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In Nghe An, through understanding at schools, most of the textbook selection is done with continuity from previous school years to facilitate teachers in teaching, students to easily absorb. Moreover, it also helps families save more in buying textbooks for the new school year, students in the next grade can inherit textbooks from their seniors.
At Mon Son Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Con Cuong), teacher Nguyen Van Vi - Principal of the school said: Textbooks are one of the issues that the school is concerned about, because the school's students are more than 50% from poor and near-poor households. Many students, especially Dan Lai students in villages such as Co Phat, Khe Bung, parents do not have the habit of buying textbooks for their children. Therefore, during the school year, the percentage of students without textbooks is about 30%.
Previously, according to the school's statistics, this year the school had more than 600 students. At the end of the school year, only about 120 parents registered with the school to buy new textbooks. The rest, not many parents went to buy by themselves. Instead, parents will borrow old books through the school's channel or can ask for them from their brothers and sisters.
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"In previous years, through the local border guard unit's channel, we received textbooks for boarding students, but due to years of use, some books were damaged and many were missing. To prepare for the new school year, we contacted our former colleagues who are currently working in Vinh city to donate books to the school to give to poor students," teacher Nguyen Van Vi - Principal of Mon Son Secondary School for Ethnic Minority Students shared.
Accompanying students in disadvantaged areas, right after the end of the 2023-2024 school year, many teachers in Vinh city proactively asked for old textbooks from students to donate to students in mountainous areas.
We have received textbooks from many schools in the city such as Le Mao, Hung Dung and plan to deliver books to some schools in Con Cuong district this August.
This is a very meaningful and practical activity, helping students know how to share with students in difficult areas and be aware of preserving and maintaining textbooks...
Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan - Department of Education and Training of Vinh city
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In addition to the school channels, a number of organizations and individuals have also donated old textbooks to give to students in mountainous areas and students from poor families.
Right at the book dealers of Nghe An Book and School Equipment Joint Stock Company, for many years now, the unit has maintained the "Zero-VND Bookshelf" to both give away free books and be a place for parents and students with old books to bring books to donate to disadvantaged students. On the unit's side, every year it also allocates funds and directly gives thousands of sets of textbooks to poor students who overcome difficulties, students in schools in remote, isolated and disadvantaged areas of the province.