A unified set of textbooks nationwide: Reducing the burden, avoiding "ruts"

(Dan Tri) - The policy of building a unified set of textbooks nationwide in the spirit of Resolution 71 of the Politburo is being welcomed by public opinion and is expected to reduce the burden, create stability, synchronization and efficiency.

The Politburo has recently directed the review and assessment of the implementation of the general education program, ensuring the provision of a unified set of textbooks nationwide. The above direction is included in Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

In addition to the requirement to develop a unified set of textbooks, Resolution 71 also sets the goal of providing free textbooks to all high school students by 2030.

This policy was introduced in the context that since 2020, the new general education program has been implemented under the policy of "one program, many textbooks" according to Resolution 88/2014 of the National Assembly. This was initially expected to end the publishing monopoly and encourage socialized compilation. However, the plan for the Ministry of Education and Training to directly compile a set of textbooks was not implemented.

In the process of education and training reform in recent years, allowing many sets of textbooks to coexist has created competition, encouraged creativity and innovation in teaching methods. However, in practice, many shortcomings have also arisen.

Solving current problems

Talking about the new curriculum (2018 program), Ms. Nguyen Mai Hoa, Xuan Phuong ward, Hanoi , always remembers the times she transferred her child to another school.

Her family experienced both the old and new curriculums, and had different experiences in buying and using textbooks. Her first child was born in 2006, studying the old curriculum. Although she transferred schools twice, it was quite convenient and smooth, without any obstacles.

But when the second child was born in 2013 and studied the new program, it was very difficult to transfer schools in the second semester of grade 6.

“The reason is that the two schools use different types of textbooks. The time my child transferred was in the middle of the year, so buying textbooks was very difficult. I had to go to three bookstores to get enough books for my child. After that, it took him a long time to learn the knowledge again,” Ms. Hoa recalled.

^{The current education program (Program 2018) is implemented in the direction of "one program, many sets of textbooks" (Photo: Huyen Nguyen - My Ha).}

Sharing the same experience, Nguyen Dan Sa, a student at Con Cuong High School, Nghe An, said that the whole country has many sets of textbooks, but each school only uses one set, so students only know the books they are studying.

Sa believes that having many sets of books makes it difficult for students to find books or transfer schools. Like Dan Sa, at the beginning of the year when buying books, they often lack "this book or that book" and the worst part is if they lose a book in the middle of the school year, it is very difficult to find and buy it again, and it is not easy to ask for it.

Meanwhile, if students nationwide use the same set of textbooks, buying books or reusing old books will be more convenient for students.

"In the past, at the beginning of the school year, sisters in the family often received old textbooks from their older siblings or relatives who bought them as gifts. But in recent years, they can't use them anymore because each place is different," Sa said.

The female student also told about the case of some of her friends who transferred to another school and were very confused because they had to study a new set of textbooks.

Dan Sa expressed her support if the whole country had a unified set of textbooks as the main learning data so that students could take exams, transfer schools or buy books easily.

“During the teaching process, teachers and students will expand their research to other sources of documents and references because in reality the content and data in textbooks are very small compared to the huge data source that students need to access and explore,” the female student from Nghe An shared.

Teachers discuss and research textbooks (Photo: My Ha).

From a professional perspective, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hen, former literature teacher at Xuan Son Secondary School, Quang Ninh, also pointed out that many sets of books cause difficulties for teachers.

“In the literature subject alone, the Vietnamese language knowledge in the textbooks is not consistent. Teachers must study and research all the remaining textbooks, and at the same time expand the scope of the language materials outside the textbooks. If only reading and teaching one textbook, students will not be guaranteed to be equipped with comprehensive knowledge,” Ms. Hen said.

However, according to Ms. Hen, not every teacher has the passion to research many books.

"The policy is to have many sets of textbooks, but many teachers only stick to one set of textbooks to teach. As a result, students do not benefit much from having many sets of textbooks," Ms. Hen said.

Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa, a chemistry teacher at Ha Dong High School, Hai Duong, also shared that over the past 5 years, teachers have had to work harder when working with many sets of books at the same time.

“Some books have content that is written in a sketchy way, while others are written in detail, and vice versa. So if there is any content that is mentioned in one of the three current textbooks, teachers have to expand on it. The pressure on teachers to review for final exams is huge, and students also have to study more,” Ms. Hoa explained.

Therefore, when she heard that there would be a unified set of textbooks, Ms. Hoa was very happy. According to her, the scope of knowledge would not change, but teachers and students would have less burden.

“A set of books will ensure consistency and uniformity in learning and testing at schools. Students transferring from one school to another do not have to worry about changing books,” said a teacher at Ha Dong High School.

Expect stability and consistency

From a management perspective, Master Huynh Thanh Phu, Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School, Ho Chi Minh City, pointed out three main shortcomings of the current model: financial burden, "disorder" of knowledge for students and lack of a common standard for testing and evaluation.

“In recent times, having many sets of textbooks has revealed many shortcomings. Although diversity was initially expected to be good, in the current context, it is causing many difficulties for parents, students, and schools,” the principal explained.

He pointed out that the first problem is that buying textbooks has become very difficult. Each school can choose many different textbooks, each subject also has many options, and each set of books even has many books. This makes parents have to buy a lot of books, including textbooks, exercise books, reference books, topics... The total cost therefore increases, not reducing the economic burden on people as the original goal.

Second, studying becomes tiring and complicated for students. Students learn one set of books at school, and in extra classes may have to get acquainted with another set of books taught by different teachers. This makes them "confused", not knowing what is the standard knowledge to review for exams.

Third, the lack of standards is also a big problem when the same content has different ways of reading and understanding. When there are too many sets of books, students will not know what is the basic knowledge, the core knowledge that needs to be mastered to prepare for important exams such as high school graduation exam and university entrance exam.

In that context, the suggestion of General Secretary To Lam and the direction of the Politburo on building a unified set of textbooks nationwide are considered important orientations to ensure consistency, fairness and savings for education.

Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu expressed that the unified set of textbooks will act as a "standard" or "backbone" of knowledge, creating a solid foundation for teachers and students to develop, not a "law" that must be followed mechanically.

Teachers will rely on this unified set of books to build lessons, and proactively update new knowledge, supplement from the internet and other sources to enrich lesson content. This not only helps teachers stay on the right track but also avoids the situation of "losing their way" among too many sets of books like today, Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu commented.

Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School believes that having a common set of textbooks is a macro-management vision of the State and the Politburo, aiming to orient and ensure the quality of education in a synchronous manner nationwide.

Sharing the same view, Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School, Cau Ong Lanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, also emphasized that unity is the biggest advantage of this policy. Unifying a set of textbooks nationwide helps schools easily implement education and teaching.

"When the whole country has a unified set of textbooks, managing, testing, evaluating and comparing teaching quality between provinces and cities will be much easier," said Mr. Thai.

Unified textbooks: No return to the beaten path

Besides many advantages, having a unified set of textbooks also has potential concerns. Teachers, managers, and experts believe that there needs to be a solution to avoid the situation where teachers depend on textbooks, lack creativity, and return to the method of teaching by rote.

Mr. Le Hong Thai said that, in theory, a common set of books will hardly have the same diversity as many other sets of books, the language materials will be limited, and creativity will be more or less constrained.

Therefore, he emphasized that the core of success lies in the teaching staff. They must constantly research and innovate to enrich the lessons. Meanwhile, management levels need to be open and flexible to encourage creativity.

Mr. Thai suggested that the unified textbook set needs to be built to be truly standard, serving as a "framework" for reference, and teachers should be able to proactively choose teaching materials.

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hen shared that having a unified set of textbooks has many advantages, but there will also be limitations if teachers do not have a spirit of innovation and creativity.

The female teacher is concerned that teachers may become dependent on textbooks and not expand their vocabulary, which will gradually lead to standardized test questions and a return to rote learning and memorization like before.

“I expect that the textbook innovation will be accompanied by innovation in teaching methods. Teachers need to be thoroughly trained before officially using the new set of books nationwide. This needs to be done carefully, not rushed or rushed,” Ms. Hen shared.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Manh Hung, Chief Coordinator, 2018 General Education Program Development Board, Editor-in-Chief of Vietnamese language and literature textbooks, "Connecting knowledge with life" series, stated that the ultimate goal of a unified set of textbooks is still "to improve the quality of teaching and learning" as directed by General Secretary To Lam.

According to Mr. Hung, with Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthrough in education and training development, the innovation of programs and textbooks has entered a new phase, from "one program, many textbooks" to "one program, one unified set of textbooks".

He expressed that we need to wait for clearer guidance from management to know clearly whether "a unified set of textbooks" means "a single set of textbooks" or not.

A new general education textbook lesson for students in Can Tho City (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

However, he believes that whether compiling a completely new set of textbooks or choosing from existing sets to have a unified set of textbooks, the sets of books currently in use should continue to be circulated to ensure diversity in teaching materials.

This is an important condition for developing an "open and flexible education system" and "teaching and learning support materials suitable for each learner" as Resolution 29 affirmed.

According to the Editor-in-Chief, circulating some other teaching materials in addition to the unified textbook set also helps to reduce the risk of the education system returning to a teaching method that is framed in a single approach, which harms the goal of training people with creative capacity - a capacity that contributes to the training of high-quality human resources.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Manh Hung further emphasized the use of open learning resources to facilitate continued innovation in assessment and evaluation.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/mot-bo-sach-giao-khoa-thong-nhat-toan-quoc-giam-ganh-nang-tranh-loi-mon-20250915075845434.htm