The Ministry of Education and Training has postponed submission of a plan on textbook reform to the National Assembly after facing the public opposition for the price tag of VND34 trillion (USD1.61 billion).

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan

Luan has also withdrawn discussion of the plan's VND34 trillion budget from the 6th plenary session of the Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, and Children of the National Assembly.

According to Luan, the Ministry of Education and Training has been completing procedures on reforming textbooks on the recommendation of the National Standing Committee at a meeting on April 24.

Earlier, minister Pham Vu Luan eased public concern over the use of VND34 trillion for the textbook reform plan. Luan said that the figure was not included in the document sent to the Prime Minister and other related documents submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee, but was just an estimate by a group of experts.

He said that VND34 trillion was not only for textbook reform, but for a number of areas, including teacher training, infrastructure upgrades and application of IT nationwide.

However, at the recent discussion over the document sent to the PM, a representative from the Ministry of Education and Training mentioned this figure, causing misunderstanding and public concern.

At that time of the discussion the minister was attending an event abroad and was unable to clear things up right away.

Luan reaffirmed that the National Assembly has not yet issued a resolution on textbook reform.

Only upon receiving the National Assembly’s permission will the ministry start seeking opinions from experts and the public and making a detailed plan.

The ministry will then continue seeking consideration from the National Council on Education and Human Development, the National Committee on Education Reform, after which it will be submitted to the PM.

The decision by the Ministry of Education has got support from education experts as well as the public.