Free textbooks ensure equal rights to education

GD&TĐ - The humane highlight in Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW is the goal of providing free textbooks to all students by 2030.

This is not only material support, but also the State's commitment to equal rights to education, ensuring that no student is left behind due to economic conditions.

Teachers and parents look forward to free textbooks

In fact, many localities have piloted shared bookcases or provided free textbooks to poor students in disadvantaged areas. However, to expand nationwide, it is necessary to soon form a sustainable financial mechanism, calculating the coordination between the central and local budgets and socialized resources. In parallel, digitizing textbooks and building a shared electronic science resource warehouse are also solutions to reduce costs and increase accessibility for students.

At Doan Thi Diem Primary School (Dong Hoa Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), many teachers and parents agreed that the policy of providing free textbooks has a profound humanistic meaning, demonstrating the determination to realize the Party and State's policies and guidelines, turning slogans into concrete actions for the country's sustainable development. This contributes to strengthening people's trust, arousing the spirit of unity and joining hands to build an increasingly prosperous country.

In fact, the situation of children having to drop out of school due to difficult family circumstances and not being able to buy textbooks still happens. Therefore, providing free books is a fundamental step to ensure fairness and equality in access to knowledge for all children, regardless of family circumstances.

In the 2025-2026 school year, Son La will have 609 educational institutions from kindergarten to high school, with nearly 380,000 students. Every year, parents have to spend a lot of money on textbooks and learning materials. Mr. Mui Van Khoa (Ta Hoc commune) expressed that for people in especially difficult and low-income highland areas, buying textbooks and other contributions is a real burden.

In Tuyen Quang , a mountainous locality with many disadvantaged communes, the policy of free textbooks has a special meaning. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, 42 years old, Bach Xa commune shared: "Low-income families, every school year the biggest concern is the cost of books. If the State provides free textbooks, the burden will be greatly reduced. If children have enough books, parents will feel more secure."

Students of Tran Nhan Tong Primary School (Dong A, Ninh Binh) during an outdoor reading extracurricular activity. Photo: Van Anh

Nguyen Viet Duong, an 8th grade student at Phuc Yen Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, confided: We often have to reuse old books, many of which are torn or have missing pages. If we were given free books and new, synchronized books to study, we would feel more excited and confident.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Duong, Principal of Phuc Yen Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, affirmed: This policy will create long-term positive impacts. That is, reducing the financial burden for millions of households; ensuring that all students have equal access to knowledge; promoting the learning movement and improving the quality of national human resources...

It can be said that Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW has opened a new direction for Vietnamese education, in which the policy of free textbooks is a highlight demonstrating humanity and fairness. This policy not only demonstrates the special concern of the Party and State for the future generations of the country, but also meets the aspirations of the majority of people, especially families with difficult economic circumstances, families in remote areas.

For them, the annual cost of textbooks is a considerable burden. This is a step in line with the tuition-free policy that has been implemented at the general education level, aiming to ensure that no school-age child is left behind due to material barriers.

The greatest belief that the Resolution brings is: From urban to rural, plain to mountainous, Vietnamese students have the right to enjoy a fair, modern and humane education. This will be a solid foundation for the country to develop sustainably in the new era.

In Tuyen Quang, that belief is even more evident when students and parents look forward to a day when there will be no more worries about lack of books and notebooks. With the synchronous participation of the State, locality and the whole society, this goal can completely become a reality, creating a solid foundation for the young generation to reach their dreams, contributing to building a sustainable country.

The existence of many different sets of textbooks has created diversity in choice, but also brought with it many shortcomings. Photo: Thieu Vu

Key issues in compiling and implementing shared textbooks

With the goal of providing free textbooks to all students by 2030, Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW also requires ensuring the provision of a unified set of textbooks nationwide.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga - Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society, noted a number of key issues to compile and effectively implement a set of shared textbooks.

First of all, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to review all knowledge standards in the program to ensure appropriate content and avoid overload.

Second, the editorial team must have a harmonious combination of prestigious, highly specialized experts and scientists with experienced teachers, in order to create books that are close to and suitable for the psychology, age, and learning ability of students.

Third, the handling of existing textbooks needs to be resolved appropriately. We support the policy of ensuring the provision of a unified set of textbooks nationwide, but we should not immediately eliminate the three current general textbooks, because these sets of books have also been carefully compiled, rigorously assessed, and scientifically. If we eliminate them, it will be a waste.

Therefore, along with a common set of standard textbooks, schools, teachers and students need to consider these textbooks as useful reference materials to contribute to diversifying knowledge and improving the quality of teaching and learning. However, there needs to be close and appropriate management measures to avoid the abuse of reference books, which can easily create unnecessary pressure on students as has happened in the past.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga emphasized that using a single set of textbooks does not mean returning to a stereotypical education. To ensure flexibility and creativity, it is necessary to continue to innovate teaching and assessment methods, focusing on learners. Teachers can still flexibly expand and supplement knowledge from other sources to suit each class. This is the core factor to maximize creativity and critical thinking of students, each student in each region, avoiding one-way knowledge provision.

“Along with compiling textbooks, it is necessary to simultaneously innovate training programs at teacher training colleges to prepare a new generation of teachers with sufficient qualities, qualifications, capacity, and skills to meet the requirements and tasks of educational and training innovation,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga.

Along with the content on textbooks, Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW also requires reviewing and evaluating the implementation of the General Education Program. This work does not stop at summarizing reports, but requires synchronous participation from the Central to local levels, from schools to teachers.

Indicators such as the rate of schools meeting the requirements for facilities, the number of trained teachers, the level of teaching equipment, or student learning outcomes will be important bases for determining the effectiveness of implementation.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/mien-phi-sach-giao-khoa-bao-dam-quyen-hoc-tap-binh-dang-post748736.html