Textbook price ceiling: Correct, sufficient and harmonizing the interests of all parties

According to the provisions of the 2023 Price Law, effective from July 1, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training regulates the maximum price of textbooks. Textbook production and trading organizations set prices not higher than the ceiling price prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training.

“How to price and control textbook prices?” was the issue discussed by experts at a seminar organized by the People's Representative Newspaper on the afternoon of April 5.

What is the basis for price ceiling?

With the policy of socializing textbooks when implementing the new General Education Program stipulated in Resolution 88 of the National Assembly, there are currently 3 different sets of textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education and Training in schools. However, the price of textbooks after being socialized is much higher than the previous price of textbooks, causing public outrage.

According to Professor, Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, member of the National Assembly's Finance and Budget Committee, the requirement is to control textbook prices to suit people's ability to pay, but also encourage publishing units to produce books of the best quality, properly implementing the policy of one program but many textbooks.

“The task of the Ministry of Education and Training is to develop guidelines for implementing pricing regulations to guide publishing units on that basis in pricing their textbooks, but at the same time also set the maximum price for each type of textbook. This is a heavy task,” Mr. Cuong commented.

According to Mr. Cuong, to price books, the Ministry of Education and Training must evaluate and review the entire book-making process, from editing, testing, appraisal, re-appraisal, printing, and distribution. Each stage must be carefully considered and the costs accurately calculated. Along with that is the market factor because if the market is large and the printing quantity is large, the price will be cheaper and vice versa.

Next, it is necessary to calculate the needs and payment ability of learners in each region to have sets of books with good prices, at a popular level, suitable and consistent with the needs of the majority of students.

Based on the above two factors, a cost framework will be created for each type of book at each quality level.

In addition, it is also necessary to consider the benefits for manufacturers, so that manufacturers and printers must make a profit. However, Mr. Cuong said that textbooks are an essential consumer product for learners and a social product, so they cannot pursue the goal of doing business to make a profit. Therefore, it is necessary to determine how much profit is appropriate for manufacturers. This factor combined with the cost framework will give the maximum price framework for each different type of textbook product.

Pricing for the benefit of learners

Sharing from reality, Associate Professor, PhDNguyen Van Tung, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Education Publishing House, said that when making socialized textbooks, in addition to the familiar steps such as organizing the manuscript, editing the final version, printing and publishing, the publisher will have to do additional new steps such as testing the version, testing pre-compiled lessons at educational institutions in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, propagating, introducing, promoting the product, training teachers to use the book, etc.

According to Mr. Tung, there are currently 3 sets of textbooks, and for English alone there are 10 different sets, so the number of copies printed has decreased, and the cost per copy will increase compared to having only one set as before.

Explaining the increase in the price of new textbooks, Mr. Tung said the reason is that publishers have to use their own capital to compile them instead of getting it from the State budget like old books. Publishers also have to spend more on stages that were not available before. In addition, there is an increase in related costs such as input material prices, royalties, labor, etc. while the number of printed books has decreased.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee for Culture and Education, textbook prices are a concern of the whole society with the common desire that the prices be at an appropriate level. With 17.6 million high school students nationwide, the change in the price of a textbook is not much, but the total cost to the whole society is a very large number. The National Assembly has researched, considered and calculated very carefully before deciding to determine the ceiling price for textbooks.

“The government sets the price of textbooks and sets a price ceiling, aiming at consumers so that they do not have to buy textbooks at too high a price. On the publishers’ side, looking at the whole picture, it certainly does not bring any disadvantages,” Ms. Hoa affirmed.

In a more specific analysis, Ms. Hoa said that when determining the ceiling price, publishers must calculate to adjust the input stage of the book compilation and publishing process to ensure the price is at an acceptable level. Determining the ceiling price will also create healthy competition in the market while still giving publishers the right to decide on specific selling prices.

“I think that pricing textbooks does not hinder socialization but also creates healthy competition, implementing the policy of socialization in the right direction and ensuring the goal of pricing books while still encouraging and motivating publishers to participate in publishing textbooks,” said Ms. Hoa.

According to Ms. Hoa, by empowering the Ministry of Education and Training to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to set textbook prices, the Ministry of Education and Training is exercising its rights and responsibilities towards learners. When textbook prices are reasonable, the education sector will certainly not have to face the impact of public opinion on book prices. This is necessary to focus on the issue that needs to be addressed, which is whether the quality of books meets the innovation goals set by the program.

Sharing about the implementation progress of the Ministry of Education and Training, Mr. Tran Thanh Dam, Director of the Department of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Education and Training said that the parties are currently discussing the coordination and review of publishers' price declarations. The Ministry has also discussed with relevant agencies about pricing methods and discussed with publishers about price formation factors.

“It must be correct and sufficient, but in harmony. We have a plan to balance and review information from publishers,” said Mr. Dam.