The Ministry of Justice has just publicly disclosed the Appraisal Dossier for the draft Decree regulating the exemption of general education textbooks and the roadmap for tuition fee exemption, and the curriculum for national defense and security education subjects at higher education and vocational education institutions.
In the draft, the Ministry of Education and Training - the drafting agency proposes a policy of free textbooks for students according to the roadmap as follows:
1. 2029 - 2030 school year: Free textbooks for all general education students nationwide;
2. For localities with budget balancing capacity (or socialization), it is encouraged to implement the policy of free textbooks earlier than prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article; prioritize allocating resources to deploy in advance for border areas, islands, ethnic minority and mountainous areas, areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, ensuring compliance with practical conditions and local budget capacity;
3. The time to provide free ethnic minority language textbooks is implemented according to the Government's own regulations on teaching and learning the language and writing of ethnic minorities.
Regarding the form of implementation, the draft Decree in Article 8 clearly states:
1. The State invests in purchasing textbooks to equip the libraries of educational institutions to organize for students to borrow and return books for use in the school year or semester according to the regulations of the educational institution.
2. Educational institutions are responsible for organizing for students to borrow and return textbooks for a limited period; after the end of the usage period, textbooks are recovered, inventoried and preserved for continued use for the following school years.
3. The management of textbooks is carried out through the registration system or library management software; educational institutions are responsible for periodic annual inventory to determine the number of books still in use and the need for supplementation.
4. The State encourages the development of electronic textbooks and forms of providing digital learning materials to support learners to access learning materials conveniently, in line with the trend of digital transformation in education today.
In the draft Submission, the Ministry of Education and Training said that based on data from general education students and teachers in the 2025-2026 school year and textbook prices for the 2026-2027 school year announced by the Vietnam Education Publishing House, it is expected to exempt textbooks for all students from the 2029-2030 school year, with a total state budget of 4,036.653 million VND.
