According to delegate Nguyen Duy Thanh, the monitoring delegation's proposal that the Ministry of Education and Training compile a set of universal textbooks would return to a state of monopoly, going against international trends.
"I believe that if the National Assembly Standing Committee's monitoring delegation had sufficient information about textbook compilation policies of countries around the world, they would not have recommended that the Ministry of Education and Training compile a set of general education textbooks," said Mr. Nguyen Duy Thanh, Vice Chairman of the Ca Mau Province Business Association, speaking at the National Assembly on the afternoon of October 31.
Disagreeing with the above proposal, Mr. Thanh said that in terms of legal basis, the proposal for the Ministry of Education and Training to participate in compiling textbooks is not consistent with the 2020 National Assembly Resolution and the 2019 Education Law. These two documents have adjusted the National Assembly Resolution 88 on compiling a set of textbooks. This proposal is also inconsistent with the reality that the socialization of textbooks has achieved many results and is being implemented smoothly.
Delegate Nguyen Duy Thanh speaks at the parliament on the afternoon of October 31. Photo: National Assembly Media
Citing the monitoring delegation's report stating that in the 2015-2022 period, the Government allocated 213,400 billion VND for the innovation of general education textbooks, of which regular expenditure was 81,000 billion VND and investment expenditure was 131,600 billion VND, delegate Thanh requested that agencies provide data showing how much the above expenditure exceeded the normal annual expenditure for general education according to regulations.
"How much is the budget for textbook innovation, and what does it include? If these expenses are not separated, it will cause misunderstanding about the huge amount of money and how the Government spends the budget," Mr. Thanh said.
Delegates from Ca Mau province requested clarification on the socialization of textbooks, how much the business contributes, how much the state spends, and how much money the budget saves, thereby fully evaluating this policy.
Delegate Luu Ba Mac (Lang Son Department of Science and Technology) also said that the Ministry of Education and Training should not be assigned to compile textbooks. The urgent task at this time is for teachers and schools to choose textbooks that are suitable for students' psychology and the reality of each locality. State agencies play the role of inspection, urging, and supervision, and do not interfere in teachers' professional work.
"The Ministry of Education and Training only considers compiling textbooks after summarizing and evaluating them specifically, objectively, and scientifically," said Mr. Mac.
Delegate Luu Ba Mac debated with Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa on the afternoon of October 31. Photo: National Assembly Media
Debate with delegate Thanh, Vice Chairwoman of the Culture and Education Committee Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa agreed that it was necessary to separate the funding for the textbook innovation program. However, she said that "the monitoring period was when the old and new programs were being implemented in parallel, so it was not possible to separate them yet."
Affirming that the success of the policy of socializing textbooks needs to be recognized, Ms. Hoa said that Resolution 88 of the National Assembly is the root. In 2020, because the new school year is about to begin and there are no textbooks compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training, the National Assembly allows that if there is a textbook set for a socialized subject, the compilation budget will not be used.
"However, through monitoring, we see that it is very necessary to carry out the State's responsibility to develop the textbook program," said Ms. Hoa, affirming that the State's participation in compiling textbooks does not mean not believing in socialization but to be completely proactive in all situations.
Vice Chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Education Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa debated at the National Assembly hall on the afternoon of October 31. Photo: National Assembly Media
Resolution 88 of the National Assembly in 2014 clearly stated the policy of socializing the compilation of textbooks. In addition, to proactively implement the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training organized the compilation of a set with a budget of 16 million USD from a loan from the World Bank.
For many reasons, the Ministry of Education and Training could not do this. The National Assembly then agreed that if each subject had at least one set of textbooks that had been appraised and approved, the budget would no longer be used to compile textbooks for that subject.
From 2020, the roadmap for replacing new textbooks will begin to be implemented, with each grade having at least three sets of textbooks for schools and parents to choose from. By this school year, the replacement of textbooks at the primary level has been implemented up to grade 4, at the secondary level up to grade 8, and at the high school level up to grade 11.
However, the Resolution on thematic supervision of the innovation of general education programs and textbooks dated September 18 of the National Assembly Standing Committee stated that the Ministry of Education and Training's failure to compile a set of textbooks according to Resolution No. 88 "has not fully performed the State's responsibility". The National Assembly Standing Committee proposed that the National Assembly consider and decide on the policy of continuing to implement Resolution No. 88 on assigning the Ministry of Education and Training to compile a set of textbooks.
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