Sixteen million dollars has been allocated to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) to compile a set of textbooks for the new general education program. However, the allocation has not been done.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has published 32 textbooks for eight subjects and experience activities, but these do not include textbooks for English.

Twenty-four out of 32 textbooks chosen by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) belong to the Education Publishing House.

Many teachers and education experts have expressed surprise about the news that Vietnam will have textbooks for physical education at general schools.

Tran Kieu, chair of the Vietnam Psychology – Education Association, noted that the new general education program (Program 2018) is designed to develop learners’ personal capabilities.

The Kim Dong Publishing House has re-published a set of “Quoc Van Giao Khoa Thu” (national textbooks), which has long been considered the first primary Vietnamese textbooks, published in the early years of the 20th century.

 National Assembly deputies are still arguing about the ‘one program, many sets of textbooks’ principle they approved five years ago.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Education Publishing House has finally stated that it will not raise textbook prices for the 2019-2020 academic year. 

The Ministry of Education and Training has released an instruction asking teachers and managerial officers not to allow students write in textbooks so the books can be used again.

VietNamNet Bridge - Gender stereotypes in textbooks lead to many consequences, from school bullying to the loss of career opportunities, experts say.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Education Publishing House (EPH) reported that it incurs a loss of VND40 billion each year in printing and distributing textbooks.

Experts have warned that the ‘one curriculum, many sets of textbooks’ policy may cause chaos in the textbook market.

Conversations have heated up on Internet forums about Ho Ngoc Dai, the father of the ‘education technology’ program, who wrote a textbook for first graders.

Hundreds of million textbook copies are printed every year, and most of them are thrown away or sold to scrap collectors just after one year of use.

VietNamNet Bridge - Hundreds of million of textbook copies, worth a total of VND1 trillion, are thrown away each year.

Experts do not believe that the monopoly in textbook compilation will end, though the Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha vowed to terminate the monopoly by holding auctions to find compilers.

A credit-based education program will be applied at secondary and high schools in HCMC on a trial basis from the 2019-2020 academic year, if the city’s proposals on an open policy for education receives approval.

VietNamNet Bridge - HCMC has received approval from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) for its plan to compile textbooks for use at general schools in the city. 

VietNamNet Bridge - The government in 2015 approved a plan on reforming curricula and textbooks for general education, emphasizing a student-centered approach which aims to promote initiative, creativity and self-study.

The idea of ‘one curriculum, many sets of textbooks’, which was praised as encouraging creativity and renovation, is part of a draft curriculum for general education the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has opened for public opinion.