Editorials

Textbook puzzlement

(China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-07 07:58

Middle school students and their teachers in five cities of East China's Anhui province were told on Wednesday, the first day of the new semester, that they must use new English textbooks designated by the local education department.

Both teachers and students have been caught unawares and need extra time to prepare for the use of new books. Third-grade students who have used the old textbooks for two years will find it difficult to adapt to the new ones. The selecting of a new textbook distributor without public bidding has put the motives of the local education department in question.

Practice elsewhere shows that distributors selected through public bidding cut distribution costs by around 20 percent. However, Anhui education department has maintained the same textbook distributor for years. Choosing to change the English textbooks has given its favorite distributor advantage in monopolizing local distribution of textbooks.

Even if it has good reasons for changing the textbooks, the department should have allowed enough time for teachers and students to prepare for their use. A change of textbooks is a big event for both teachers and students. There should be strict rules for choosing the textbooks to be used and the opinions of teachers should be taken into consideration.

There seems little justification for this local education department to spend money changing textbooks at the expense of the best interests of both teachers and students.

(China Daily 09/07/2010 page8)