At the group discussion on November 17, there were many opinions related to the draft regulation stipulating that the Minister of Education and Training decides on a set of general education textbooks (SGK) to apply nationwide starting from the 2026-2027 school year.
Delegate Hoang Van Cuong (Hanoi Delegation) said that the Ministry of Education and Training should not organize the writing of a textbook series and then include it in national unified teaching, because if so, that set of books would easily become a "classical".
Delegate Hoang Van Cuong argued: "People teach by book, study by book, take exams by book, so it will eliminate all the innovative and creative thinking of learners".
This is a very correct viewpoint, Minister Nguyen Kim Son should listen.
Unify a set of books but that set of books is not a "classical" one. Students must have their sky of knowledge expanded through many sets of books and many other rich sources of documents.
In the digital age, cyberspace is an endless treasure trove of knowledge. Guiding students to learn knowledge beyond the school's textbooks is the new education of progress and opening up.
Students must be trained in independent, creative and critical thinking.
A textbook set is a basic framework, but only sticking to that framework is learning, is eliminating creativity.
Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Phong Delegation) expressed a very interesting opinion: "Currently, the whole country is using many textbooks, all of which have undergone a strict appraisal process and have been approved by the national appraisal council. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify: Will the Minister choose a set of books from the sets of books in use, or will he direct the compilation of a completely new set of books?"
There are many textbooks in use, preparing another set of books is a huge expense, so it is necessary to calculate to achieve the goal of unifying a set of books but not wasting.
Try to set a plan, choose a set from the current book series to use consistently nationwide, without the need to compile a new book series.
Other sets of books are still in circulation, teachers and students can refer to them for teaching and learning.
Not to mention, it is necessary to consider the option of choosing a unified textbook set, fully published on the Ministry of Education and Training's information portal, parents and students can go to see and print it themselves as documents for studying.
Not to mention, those e-books are published in Vietnamese and English.
Our children are global citizens, integrating into the world right from the moment they are in school.
Therefore, we should not think in the old way, just hold textbooks in hard copy to freeze our thinking.
