There are at this time several inadequacies in the current textbooks and education programmes for basic education due to the disparity in the quality of teaching staff between one school and another.

There have still existed many makeshift classes nationwide

The National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, discussed for the last time on July 15, a draft report on the implementation of policies and regulations to ensure quality of textbooks and education programmes for basic education.

Several delegates said the current textbooks and education programmes are bloated and the information therein must be condensed so that lessons can be combined with creative, living and communication skills.  This failure has resulted in decreases in education quality and moral education.

They attributed the situation to the disparity in quality of teaching and facilities between schools, along with the unrealistically high expectations of students’ parents.

Prof. Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the committee said, “The education sector has yet to address the contradiction between the higher demands for education quality and limited professionalism of teaching staff, school managers and infrastructure at different schools.”

Associate Prof. Tran Thi Tam Dan said that in order to improve the situation schools should be granted autonomy in financial and human resource management, as well as in making education programmes that improve education quality.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan agreed and said that any assessments of the textbooks and education programmes should be made based on the circumstances in each school and targets for improvements set accordingly.

“It’s true that substandard education quality results from substandard facilities. There are still many makeshift classes in remote and mountainous areas as well as places inhabited by ethnic groups in areas like Ha Nam, Hung Yen and Nam Dinh Provinces. It will take around VND480 trillion (USD22.81billion) to remove all makeshift classrooms and build public housing for teachers across the country,” he noted.

He admitted that this is a major investment which should come both from the state budget and private sources.

Prof. Dao Trong Thi added that the design of new textbooks and education programmes should be suited to the prevailing practical conditions in order to ensure the feasibility of implementation of these things.