Still missing nearly 49,000 sets of books
According to the Da Nang Department of Education and Training, as of September 7, the whole city still lacks 48,726 sets of textbooks (SGK), equivalent to 8.92% of the demand, which also means that many students do not have enough books, even though the new school year has begun.
In which, the general education school block directly under the People's Committees of communes and wards is still short of 41,183 sets, including 21,875 sets at the primary level and 19,308 sets at the secondary level. Schools and centers directly under the Department are still short of 7,843 sets.
The book shortage situation not only occurs before the opening ceremony but still lasts after the school year has started.
The Culture - Society Committee of the City People's Council also recorded the shortage of books through reflections from voters, parents and the press. The Committee said that the shortage of books occurs at many levels of education, students have to use old books, incomplete books or photocopy documents to serve learning.
Notably, the Culture and Social Affairs Committee believes that the provision of free shared textbooks according to Resolution 51/NQ-HDND dated July 31, 2026 has not been implemented in a timely manner as required, and at the same time requests the City People's Committee to clarify the progress, difficulties, causes and responsibilities of relevant agencies and units.
Currently, the Department of Education and Training has not yet implemented the provision of common textbooks for students in the city in the 2026 - 2027 school year.
Thus, the organization of the implementation of the policy that has been unanimously approved by the City People's Council has not gone into practice, timely, and met the expectations of the People" - the Culture - Society Committee assessed.
What does the Department say about the delay in books?
According to the explanation of the Department of Education and Training, the 2026-2027 school year is the first year to deploy a set of textbooks used uniformly nationwide. This change causes high demand to be concentrated in some book titles, creating pressure for printing, distribution and coordination.
Along with that, a part of parents buy books late, close to the opening ceremony, causing demand to increase sharply in a short time. Da Nang's policy of supporting free shared textbooks is also being implemented simultaneously with the mobilization of used books, making the demand for building a source of shared books very large.
Talking to Lao Dong reporters earlier, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Nam - Deputy Director of Da Nang Department of Education and Training - said that one of the direct reasons is that the publishing house has not had time to print enough books.
According to Mr. Nam, the policy was issued at the time of the school year, while many parents have proactively bought books in advance. The Department has requested localities to review the number of books that parents have bought, the amount of old books that can be used to accurately determine the remaining shortage, but supplementary purchases cannot be implemented immediately.
This is also the reason why the education sector chooses the option of not buying massively at all costs, but both supplementing the source of books and maximizing the amount of books available to avoid waste.
Do not let book shortages last.
In the immediate future, the Department of Education and Training requests schools to utilize all books in the library, receive good used books, transfer books from surplus places to scarce places and urgently distribute mobilized socialized books.
For students who do not have books, the education sector proposes solutions to exploit electronic textbooks and PDF files of the unified set of books, to support teaching and learning while waiting for the official source of books.
Specifically, 6 boarding primary and secondary schools in border communes, before the opening day, the Department coordinated with Vietnam Education Publishing House to transfer 80,610 books, equivalent to 5,110 sets of grade 1-9 books to schools.
The Department said it will continue to update data daily, coordinate with Vietnam Education Publishing House to ensure 100% of students have enough books as soon as possible.
In the long term, the education sector will also proactively provide the annual demand for shared books to publishers to develop a stable supply plan, and at the same time implement Resolution 51/NQ-HDND for the following school years.
