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Following is a question by the Hon Starry Lee and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (December 7):
Question:
In 2009, the Education Bureau (EDB) requested textbook publishers to debundle textbooks and teaching/learning materials for pricing and sale, but this has still not been implemented after years of tug-of-war. The Secretary for Education (SED) issued an "ultimatum" to the trade at the end of May this year requesting the publishers to complete the task of debundling within one year, otherwise EDB would tender out the publication of textbooks and teaching materials to introduce competition. EDB has also set up a task force to review teaching and learning materials (task force), which is responsible for examining issues arising from the policy of debundling textbooks and teaching/learning materials for pricing. In a joint statement issued in May this year, two major textbook publishers counter-proposed a time frame of three years for debundling textbooks and teaching materials for pricing. Moreover, it has been reported that the task force considers that the tendering approach is full of problems and it is inclined to recommend EDB to give up the tendering approach. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the counter-measures adopted by EDB in response to textbook publishers rejecting its request to complete the task of debundling the textbooks and teaching materials for pricing within one year;
(b) of the views of the task force on EDB tendering out the publication of textbooks and teaching materials; of other methods, apart from tendering, to be considered by the task force for introducing competition to the textbook and teaching materials market with a view to reducing textbook prices;
(c) when the task force will complete its final report and submit it to SED, and when the authorities will publish the report;
(d) whether the authorities will simplify the procedure and shorten the time for vetting and approving textbooks in order to introduce more competitors; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(e) whether the authorities will take the initiative to coordinate the purchasing of teaching materials for the schools in need; if they will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
(a) and (c) The Education Bureau (EDB) finds it unreasonable and regrettable that publishers have not yet provided separate pricing for textbooks and other teaching materials in the 2011/12 school year, and have maintained that they need three more years to fully implement the debundling policy. In the light of this, in June this year, EDB requested publishers to price separately the teaching materials that are urgently needed by teachers, including teacher's books, question banks and audio CDs, within one year.
As the distortion of the textbook market is becoming more serious, in June this year, EDB set up a task force comprising different stakeholders to examine and review various issues arising from the "Policy of Debundling Textbooks and Teaching/Learning Materials for Pricing", in particular the operation of the Recommended Textbook List, as well as other measures concerning the supply of learning and teaching materials with a view to providing schools with quality and value-for-money materials. The task force will submit its report to the Secretary for Education by December this year. EDB will then publish the report.
(b) The task force has deliberated on how to introduce competition into the textbook and teaching materials market. Details of the recommendations will be included in the report.
(d) The task force has discussed how to enhance the textbook reviewing procedure and made relevant recommendations. Details will be provided in the report.
(e) It is EDB's practice to allocate block grants to all public sector schools so that they can, in accordance with their actual needs, flexibly use the funding to purchase teaching materials and meet daily operational needs. Starting from this school year, hyperlinks have been added to the Recommended Textbook List to facilitate teachers searching for the web-based learning and teaching resources developed by EDB and textbook-related learning and teaching materials. Over the years, EDB has produced a large quantity of web-based learning and teaching resources, and is currently setting up a one-stop portal for disseminating various learning and teaching resources developed by EDB to facilitate teachers' use of these resources in order to reduce their dependence on learning and teaching materials produced by publishers. It is expected that the one-stop portal will be fully developed by the end of 2011.
Ends/Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 12:06
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