National Assembly delegates expressed their views on a nationwide unified textbook set

On November 17, continuing the program of the 10th Session, the National Assembly discussed in groups the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on specific mechanisms and policies to implement Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

The draft stipulates that the Minister of Education and Training decides on a set of general education textbooks to apply nationwide, starting from the 2026-2027 school year, and a roadmap to 2030 to provide free textbooks to all students.

Contributing opinions to this content, delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Phong Delegation) said that the concept of "decision" does not have clear content.

"Currently, the whole country is using many textbooks, all of which have gone through a strict appraisal process and have been approved by the national appraisal council. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify: Will the Minister choose a set of books from the sets of books in use, or will he direct the compilation of a completely new set of books?" - the delegate analyzed and raised the issue.

Discussing this content, delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi Delegation) said that it is necessary to have a correct understanding of providing a unified set of textbooks nationwide.

The delegate said that the Ministry of Education and Training should not organize the writing of a set of textbooks and then include them in unified teaching nationwide, because if so, that set of books would easily become a "classical".

"People teach by book, study by book, take exams by book, so it will eliminate all the innovative and creative thinking of learners" - delegate Cuong argued.

According to him, Vietnamese students are very smart, but their creative thinking is not high, partly because for many years, students have only studied and followed the correct book, the correct answers, and there is no space to express and create according to their understanding.

"If we now return to the model of a writing ministry, a ministry issuing and a national set of books, I think it will be very worrying for the development of creative thinking for future generations" - delegate Hoang Van Cuong said.

Accordingly, he supports providing a unified set of textbooks so that all students have the same learning environment nationwide, moving towards free. However, the delegate noted that it is necessary to avoid the situation of "learning by book - taking the exam by book" in a mechanical way.

Regarding this issue, delegate Pham Khanh Phong Lan (HCMC delegation) said that the most important thing when implementing a unified set of textbooks is to reduce waste.

Ms. Lan expressed concern about the regulation, localities that have conditions will implement free textbooks from the 2026-2027 school year in Clause 1 and suggested: "We should not distinguish between localities with conditions and without conditions".

This is also the content mentioned by the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society in the draft review report on the same morning.

Accordingly, the inspection agency proposed to clarify the above regulation, to avoid misunderstanding that priority should be given to providing free textbooks to students in localities with conditions instead of giving priority to students in disadvantaged areas.

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