The Ministry of Communication and Information has given licences to four publishing houses to compile and publish textbooks, increasing the number of textbook publishers to five.

Four more publishers have been licensed to compile and publish textbooks. 

The four new publishers will be Ha Noi Pedagogy University, HCM City Pedagogy University, Ha Noi National University and Huế University.

The publishers have already prepared staff and facilities for this new function.

Chu Van Hoa, director of the Department of Publishing, Printing and Distribution, said the inclusion of the four new publishers will end the monopoly held by the Vietnam Education Publishing House and bring diversity to textbooks sold in the market.

Previously, the Vietnam Education Publishing House was the only publisher responsible for the compilation, printing and distribution of textbooks, which caused a shortage of textbooks in recent years.

An official Government decision on innovative programmes and textbooks called for Viet Nam to carry out the “one curriculum, many sets of textbooks” policy.

This policy allows changes in methodology and improvements in educational quality.

Textbook printing and circulation is under the supervision of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children. — VNS