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The Steering Committee on Selection, Quality Assurance and Review of the e-Textbook Market Development Scheme (EMADS) has approved a total of 20 applications for the development of e-textbooks under Phase Two of EMADS.
The 20 successful applications cover major subjects like Chinese Language (two applications), Mathematics (four applications), Life and Society (three applications), Putonghua (two applications) and Geography (three applications). There are also newly added subjects of History (three applications) and Computer Literacy (three applications) not covered in Phase One of EMADS. Six applications cover primary education and 14 applications cover junior secondary. The list of successful applications is in Annex I.
The 20 successful applications were submitted by eight applicants. There is an even spread of four non-profit-making (NPM) organisations and four other organisations; 10 applications from each. Amongst them, four are also successful applicants under Phase One, namely two NPM organisations and two other organisations.
Compared with the prices of printed textbooks on the same subject, the e-textbooks to be developed under Phase Two of EMADS are generally priced lower. The prices of the approved e-textbooks in Chinese and Mathematics are about 58 per cent and over 40 per cent lower than the average prices of their printed counterparts respectively. Both the NPM applicants and other applicants will enter into an agreement with the Government which will require them to commit to the sales prices of the e-textbooks produced under EMADS for four years and two years respectively.
For the NPM developers, the Government will provide a seeding grant on a 50:50 matching basis, subject to a cap of $4 million per e-textbook set or 50 per cent of the development cost of the e-textbook set, whichever is less.
As in Phase One, the Education Bureau will invite schools under the Partner Schools Scheme to try out the e-textbooks developed under Phase Two and provide feedback. It is expected that most of the e-textbooks developed under Phase Two will be available for use in the 2015/16 school year while a few will be available in the 2016/17 school year.
For both Phase One and Phase Two of EMADS, a total of 40 sets of e-textbooks will be developed, covering Chinese Language, English Language, Mathematics, General Studies, Putonghua, Geography, Life and Society, Physical Education, Computer Literacy and History. Details are in Annex II. The development and trying out of the e-textbooks under Phase One is in good progress. It is expected that they will be available for use in the 2014/15 school year after going through the quality assurance mechanism.
Ends/Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:00
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