More than 54,000 students are still short of books
The Department of Education and Training (GDĐT) of Da Nang City has a report sent to the Ministry of Education and Training on the shortage of textbooks (SGK) for the 2026-2027 school year. Statistics as of the end of September 20, the whole city still has 54,663 students short of textbooks.
In which, primary school has 21,323 students, secondary school 19,495 students and high school 13,445 students. The total shortage is 60,788 textbook copies.
According to a survey by Lao Dong reporters, in the old Quang Nam area, many schools used to use the "Connecting Knowledge with Life" set, so when continuing to use this set of books, old books can be utilized, so there is not much shortage.
Meanwhile, Da Nang City before the merger chose textbooks for each subject from 3 sets: Connecting Knowledge with Life, Creative Horizon and Golden Kite, instead of using a whole set for all subjects. When switching to a unified set of books, some subjects generated new purchase needs at the same time, leading to a large localized shortage of quantity.
Da Nang Department of Education and Training is directing schools to accurately review the number of missing textbooks by subject and grade level. This data is considered a "order" for suppliers to bring textbooks to the right schools and needs. The goal set by the Da Nang Education sector is that 100% of students have enough textbooks before September 24.
During the waiting time for books, the Department requires teachers (GV) to be flexible in allowing students to share, share books, borrow library books or use electronic materials; not to criticize or create pressure on students who have not had enough textbooks.
We direct teachers not to be punished, shamed or criticized for students who do not have enough textbooks when coming to class. The shortage of books is due to supply errors or family circumstances, not the fault of the students" - a principal shared.
How to exploit electronic books in accordance with the law?
While waiting for paper books, the immediate solution is to exploit electronic textbooks.
According to the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training, Departments of Education and Training must provide the free e-textbook address of the Vietnam Education Publishing House at taphuan. nxbgd. vn/tap-huan for students and parents to proactively access. At the same time, schools continue to take advantage of old library books and textbooks that are still usable and transfer them according to the principle of supporting where there is surplus and there is shortage.
However, a problem arises: how much can electronic textbooks be copied and printed so that students can use them temporarily without copyright infringement? Current textbook supply documents guide the exploitation of electronic books but do not specify how to copy and print them in a situation of book shortage, causing parents confusion.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, lawyer Nguyen Thanh Tan - Da Nang Bar Association - said that current legal regulations have defined limits for copying works using printers, photocopiers, cameras or similar devices.
According to lawyer Tan's analysis, Decree 17/2023/ND-CP stipulates that the reasonable copying of a part of a written work by copying equipment for personal research and study, not for commercial purposes, is limited to no more than 10% of the total number of pages of the publication.
For example, if a textbook has 100 pages, parents photocopy about 10 pages for their children to study temporarily while waiting for new books, not selling, not publishing, not doing business, then there is a basis to consider whether it is a reasonable copying case for personal learning" - lawyer Tan analyzed.
According to the lawyer, not being able to buy textbooks does not mean that parents have the right to photocopy the whole book. If the copying exceeds the limits permitted by law, it must have the consent of the copyright owner and fulfill copyright obligations according to regulations.
