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Ho Chi Minh City to roll out free textbook loan programme from 2026-2027

Ho Chi Minh City is set to introduce a free textbook loan programme for all students in general education, continuing education and literacy programmes from the 2026-2027 academic year.

A teacher attends a training session organised by the Vietnam Education Publishing House on the use of the unified textbook series. Photo: (VNA)
A teacher attends a training session organised by the Vietnam Education Publishing House on the use of the unified textbook series. Photo: (VNA)

Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is set to introduce a free textbook loan programme for all students in general education, continuing education and literacy programmes from the 2026-2027 academic year.

Textbooks for the national defence and security education subject will be added to the scheme from the 2027-2028 school year.

Under the proposed policy, schools will distribute textbooks through their libraries at the start of each school year or semester, with all books to be delivered at least 15 days before classes begin. Students must return the complete set within 15 working days after the school year ends or when transferring schools or leaving the education system.

Students or their legal guardians will be required to compensate schools, either in kind or in cash, for textbooks that are lost or damaged beyond use due to negligence. Schools shall give priority to replacement with new textbooks of the same title and edition, in accordance with the prescribed textbook list.

​If replacement copies are unavailable, compensation will be based on the books' remaining value: 80% of the original price for books used for less than one year, 50% for one to three years, and 20% for three to five years. No compensation will apply to textbooks that have been used for more than five years.

The municipal Department of Education and Training will oversee the transfer of textbooks between school libraries at the same education level through an interconnected system to maximise the use of public assets before approving new purchases. Annual state budget funding will be allocated under recurrent expenditure to replace textbooks worn out through normal use.

Following the recent administrative merger, Ho Chi Minh City now has Vietnam's largest education network, with more than 3,400 educational institutions from preschool to high-school level serving over 2.5 million students.

Under the Government's Decree No. 271/2026/ND-CP on free textbooks for general education and tuition fee waivers, students nationwide will receive free textbooks from the 2029-2030 academic year. Provinces and cities with sufficient financial capacity are encouraged to introduce the policy ahead of the national schedule./.

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#Nghị quyết 71 #Giáo Dục #Đào Tạo #NQ 71 #Ho Chi Minh City #textbooks #2026-2027 academic year Ho Chi Minh City
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