The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is currently discussing the criteria for choosing suitable candidates to compile new textbooks, an important part of the education reform program.

Dr. Nguyen Anh Dung, member of the MOET’s steering committee on reforming curricula and textbooks for general education, said MOET kicked off implementation right after the program got the nod from the National Assembly in late November 2014.

MOET has sent dispatches to all relevant agencies and organizations which are believed to be capable of compiling textbooks, looking for suitable candidates.

When asked about the criteria for the compilers, Dung said: “The authors must be young people who can cooperate well with older, experienced people who have done compilation work in the past. And teachers must be included, because they understand students best.”

MOET has officially requested that Ha Noi and HCM City Universities of Natural Sciences, and the Ha Noi and HCM City Universities of Social Sciences and Humanities as well as key pedagogical schools introduce authors who are capable of compiling textbooks.

The ministry signed an agreement through 2020 with the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Association (VUSTA) on cooperation between the two organizations in implementing science and technology tasks, including the introduction of candidates for textbook compilation.

However, as anticipated by the steering committee members, “it will be not easy to find suitable compilers”.
“Previously, MOET also sent dispatches to relevant agencies and organizations, asking them to introduce candidates. A council was set up later which selected the best candidates for the compilation teams,” Dung said.

However, there were problems in the selection method. “We invited too many experts in basic sciences,” Dung explained. “Therefore, the curricula are not highly appreciated because they are too academic.”

“Besides, the absence of teachers as compilers was also a mistake,” he added.

The mistakes will not be repeated this time. The general chief editor will be responsible for the quality of the textbooks before the National Education Council. There will be many chief editors in charge of compiling textbooks for different learning subjects. They will have to report to the general chief editor about compilation progress.

With the National Assembly’s decision on reforming curricula -- allowing others in society to compile textbooks -- Viet Nam’s education is believed to enter a new period of development.

The new textbooks will free students from excessive academic knowledge, while teachers will be allowed to be creative in their teaching.

However, the public still has doubts that the targets will be reached. Though textbooks can be compiled by many authors, they all will have to be examined by a MOET-set council before they are used in schools.