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In response to press enquiries regarding the discussion between the Education Bureau (EDB) and textbook publishers on the implementation of the textbook debundling policy, a spokesman for the EDB clarified today (May 19) that the bureau had not requested textbook publishers to freeze textbook prices for another year in exchange for a three-year grace period to implement the debundling arrangement.
"The policy of debundling textbooks and teaching and learning materials for pricing was scheduled to be implemented in the 2010-11 school year. As the textbook publishers have requested sufficient time to resolve related technical problems, the bureau agreed last year to postpone the implementation for one year to the 2011-12 school year.
"We are still negotiating with the textbook publishers with an aim to implement the debundling policy as soon as possible," the spokesman stressed.
Ends/Thursday, May 19, 2011
Issued at HKT 14:44
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