Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft circular to give back the right to choose books to schools and teachers instead of depending on the People's Committees of provinces and cities as it is now. This move has received great support from many sides, including experts, teachers, school leaders and education managers.
5 years of study 3 times the regulations changed
The 2020-2021 school year is the first year that new textbooks and general education programs are put into practice. Circular No. 01 of the Ministry of Education and Training at that time gave teachers and schools the right to decide on textbook selection.
The Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that each school establishes a textbook selection council under the direction of the principal. The council has at least 2/3 of its members being heads of professional groups and teachers of subjects and educational activities.
Teachers discuss and talk about textbooks. (Illustration: MK)
In the second school year (2021-2022), the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 25 to replace Circular 01 on textbook selection. Accordingly, the Textbook Selection Council is established by the Provincial People's Committee.
Explaining the decision to change the right to choose textbooks, the representative of the Ministry of Education and Training said that from July 1, 2020, the new Law on Education (amended) will take effect with the regulation "The Provincial People's Committee decides on the selection of textbooks for stable use in general education institutions in the area" (Point c, Clause 1, Article 32).
Meanwhile, the selection of new grade 1 textbooks for the 2020-2021 school year must be organized from the beginning of 2020 and the results announced in May 2020 so that publishers with selected textbooks can organize printing and distribution... in time for the school year opening in September 2020.
The monitoring delegation of the National Assembly Standing Committee assessed: "The regulations on selecting general education textbooks in Circular 25 of the Ministry of Education and Training are not strict, leading to inconsistent implementation methods among localities. It even creates loopholes for profiteering and unfair competition."
Some National Assembly delegates even expressed concern about "group interests" or "collusion" in the process of selecting textbooks...
The monitoring team requested the Ministry of Education and Training to assess whether it is possible to apply multiple sets of textbooks for each subject at the same educational institution. It is necessary to amend regulations to unify the selection of textbooks and give educational institutions the right to be proactive in selecting textbooks, aiming to make the right to choose textbooks belong to students, teachers, and parents.
By mid-late 2023, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft circular to return the right to choose textbooks to teachers and schools instead of the provincial People's Committee as in Circular 25. The chairman of the council, the principal, will be responsible for the activities, planning and implementation of the council's work plan and explain the selection of textbooks of the institution.
Thus, if this circular is issued, within the next 5 school years from 2020 to 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training will have changed the selection of textbooks in general schools 3 times.
Preventing night-time activities and group interests
National Assembly delegate Thai Van Thanh (Director of Nghe An Department of Education and Training) commented that the draft circular was very correct, on target, and consistent with the thoughts and wishes of teachers and schools. It is right to assign schools and teachers to choose which textbooks to use as learning materials in the teaching process because they themselves know which textbooks are suitable for their students.
Mr. Thanh also assessed that the new draft circular effectively overcomes the shortcomings in textbook selection that have long been mentioned by public opinion. “Allowing schools to choose textbooks is also a reform of administrative procedures, shortening the time for selecting textbooks and reducing the impact of the management team on textbook selection,” Mr. Thanh shared.
National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga.
Sharing the same view, National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong delegation) said that the previous assignment of the right to choose books to the People's Committees of provinces and cities was not appropriate. In the same province, the conditions of facilities, capacity, and qualifications of students and teachers are different between mountainous areas, rural areas, and cities. Even in the same city, there are still schools with better quality and schools with less good quality.
Therefore, it is appropriate to let schools choose their own textbooks because the school will understand its students and teachers well to choose the most suitable set of books.
Besides the fact that schools will choose textbooks that are close to the practical requirements of the facility, Ms. Nga said that giving the right to choose books to schools also avoids group interests in choosing textbooks.
In a more specific analysis, Ms. Nga said that there are currently many textbooks on the market, so there must be competition between publishing units in terms of price and quality. However, it is necessary to anticipate a situation where competition is not based on price and quality but on other forms of "backdoor dealing and lobbying".
According to the female delegate, if the provincial People's Committees were given the authority to select textbooks, the whole country would only have more than 60 textbook selection councils. Assuming there were vested interests in selecting textbooks, it would be very easy to implement.
However, if the authority is given to educational institutions, no individual or organization can influence the decision to select books for all schools. This will avoid the risk of abusing the selection of books for personal gain. "Therefore, I think the regulation of letting schools choose books is reasonable and solves many problems," said Ms. Nga.
Teachers are the ones who understand best.
Mr. Nguyen Quoc Binh, Principal of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School (Hanoi) commented that the Ministry of Education and Training's plan to give schools the right to choose textbooks is to accept and listen to voices from the grassroots and from the teaching staff.
He affirmed that giving schools the right to choose textbooks is appropriate because each school has different conditions in terms of facilities, teacher qualifications, and student abilities. Teachers and schools must base on those practical conditions to choose the appropriate set of books.
Besides, giving autonomy to schools also helps to improve the autonomy and self-responsibility of training institutions and teachers.
“This is also in line with international trends because teachers, depending on students and their own abilities, can even use not just one but many different textbooks and learning materials outside of textbooks to improve the quality of education, meet output quality requirements, thereby stimulating teachers' dynamism and creativity,” said Mr. Binh.
Associate Professor Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, agreed with the plan to return the right to choose books to teachers and schools. "More than anyone else, teachers who teach in the classroom will understand which books are good and suitable. At the same time, this will reduce unhealthy competition between publishers, ensuring that book selection is more objective and transparent than before," he emphasized.
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