National unified textbooks from 2026: Only 10 months left, how to keep up with the schedule?

(Dan Tri) - Experts say that writing new textbooks is difficult to do, so we should adjust the program and choose the best book for each grade from the current textbooks to refine and ensure progress.

Dr. Sai Cong Hong, former Deputy Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training , provided analysis on the implementation of Resolution 71-NQ/TW to unify a set of textbooks nationwide. The article focuses on analyzing 4 implementation options to ensure quality, fairness in access to knowledge and meet the schedule set for the 2026-2027 school year.

Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW dated August 22, 2025 of the Politburo "on breakthroughs in education and training development" affirms that education is the top national policy and the key driving force for rapid and sustainable development of the country in the new period.

One of the key tasks clearly directed by the Politburo is: "From the 2026-2027 school year, a unified set of textbooks nationwide will be created that is suitable for the general education program, ensuring quality, scientific nature, practicality and fairness in access to knowledge."

This is a strategic requirement, an urgent practical task. After a period of implementing the policy of “one program, many sets of books”, reality has shown that this policy contributes to innovation in teaching methods, promoting creativity, but at the same time it also reveals limitations: differences between regions, difficulties in testing, assessment, examinations and lack of consistency in implementation.

Therefore, building a unified set of textbooks nationwide is a necessary step to ensure fairness, efficiency and long-term stability in the education system.

Risks of writing new: slow progress, unable to test, risk of copyright disputes

According to Resolution 71, from the 2026-2027 school year, the whole country will use a unified set of textbooks. Thus, there are only about 10 months left to complete the stages: curriculum review, compilation, appraisal, printing, training and distribution.

Under such conditions, compiling new textbooks is completely impossible. The process of writing new textbooks, evaluating and testing pedagogy usually takes at least 2-3 years. If choosing to write new textbooks, it will be difficult to ensure the compilation process as well as the quality of textbooks to keep up with the progress of implementing Resolution 71.

Three current textbooks of the 2018 General Education Program (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

In addition, compiling a completely new set of textbooks also poses great legal and copyright risks. When groups of authors refer to or use similar structures to existing textbooks, it is easy to cause disputes about copying ideas, duplicating structures or violating copyright of learning materials.

In addition, writing new textbooks means having to retrain the entire teaching staff, update teaching materials, equipment and testing and assessment systems. Therefore, in the context of only 10 months left, writing new textbooks for the first 3 grades (grades 1, 6, 10) in a "rolling" manner is an unfeasible solution and has many potential consequences that are difficult to control.

Curriculum adjustment - the foundation for textbook unification

Although the 2018 general education program has been innovated, implementation shows that it still needs to be adjusted. Some contents are still academic, repetitive, and unbalanced between levels.

The biggest problem is that the system of requirements is still general and lacks specificity. When the output standards are only general, textbook authors interpret them differently, leading to differences in difficulty between sets of books.

This makes it difficult for teachers to determine the focus of their teaching, and creates unfair pressure on students and parents. The recent high school graduation exam is a typical example.

Many opinions from teachers, students and experts said that the exam questions of some subjects exceeded the required scope, while the management agency still affirmed that the exam questions followed the program. This difference shows that when the required requirements are not clear, it will cause debate and reduce social trust in the fairness of the exam.

If we only adjust the textbooks without adjusting the program, the unified set of books will hardly achieve the desired effect. Therefore, the first step must be to adjust the program to a reasonable level, without changing the philosophy, but focusing on the following goals: reducing and eliminating duplicate and excessive content; adjusting output standards, making the content structure clear and easy to evaluate; reallocating time, ensuring the connection between levels of education.

Only when the program is standardized, can the compilation or refinement of textbooks have a solid, unified and scientific basis.

Implementation options to have a unified set of books

In the current context, some main options to have a unified set of textbooks need to consider choosing one set of books as the base and merging the sets of books into one. This option has the advantage of taking advantage of the quintessence of all three sets, demonstrating the spirit of inheritance and consensus.

However, the merger is likely to be patchy, lacks coherence and cannot be completed in 10 months, so progress is not feasible.

Option 2 is to select the best book for each grade from the current textbooks and then adjust it according to the adjusted program. This is the most feasible and effective option because it takes advantage of all the best features of each book set. This process can be completed in 8-10 months, meeting the schedule of Resolution 71.

However, the selection must be transparent, based on scientific criteria and practical feedback from teaching and learning over the past four years.

Option 3 is for each level to choose the most suitable set and then refine it to a unified level. This flexible option allows each level to choose the most suitable set of books, for example, primary school chooses set A, middle school chooses set B, high school chooses set C, then refines it to a unified level in terms of terminology, form and materials.

This solution takes advantage of the strengths of each set but requires a general coordination council. However, with some books not following the entire set, the philosophy of the books will be broken with the 2018 General Education Program.

Option 4 is to write a new one in a “rolling” format - a long-term roadmap. This is an option for the next phase, not applied immediately in 2026 but aiming to build a standardized national textbook set in the future.

Accordingly, the compilation will be carried out in a rolling manner: priority will be given to writing new first-grade classes (1, 6, 10) for testing and gradual improvement. This plan ensures continuity and sustainable development.

Current textbooks - reliable practical basis

The textbooks currently in use under the 2018 General Education Program have been compiled, nationally reviewed, and deployed for a full cycle by grade level, nationwide. This is a “national-scale experiment” that helps evaluate actual effectiveness and feedback from teachers, students, and parents.

The collected data is a reliable scientific basis for selection and refinement. Vietnam has a rare advantage: no need to write new textbooks, no need to re-test, but can build a unified set of textbooks based on what has been proven in practice.

Comparing the 4 options shows that: writing new textbooks is not feasible; merging textbooks is too complicated; writing new textbooks "rolling" is a long-term approach. Therefore, in my opinion, choosing the best book for each grade from the best textbooks, adjusting according to the adjusted program is the optimal solution at present.

To implement effectively and on schedule, the management agency needs to urgently adjust the 2018 General Education Program. From there, establish a National Council to select the foundation textbooks and conduct public evaluation.

Next, the organization will refine, review, shorten and complete in 8-10 months, while simultaneously training teachers and building accompanying electronic learning materials. This is a synchronous, feasible and effective solution, meeting the progress of Resolution 71 of the Politburo.

Dr. Sai Cong Hong

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/sgk-thong-nhat-toan-quoc-tu-2026-chi-con-10-thang-lam-sao-de-kip-tien-do-20251022062411006.htm