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PART Recent Trends and Developments in Government Policies in Education, Science and Culture

Textbooks are the main teaching materials for different school subjects. They play an important role in children's learning activities.

With the aim of ensuring both the appropriate content of teaching provided in schools and the production of unique and diverse textbooks, in April 1989 the Ministry drastically changed the existing textbook authorization system. The new system will be rout into practice in and after 1990, progressively for different school levels, for the authorization of textbooks, which will be prepared in accordance with the revised Course of Study.

In April 1987 the National Council on Educational Reform offered some recommendations on the improvement of the mechanisms and procedures for textbook adoption. Taking account of these recommendations, a Consultative Committee for the Consideration of the Textbook Adoption System published a report on the "Adoption of Textbooks" in March 1990. In this report the Committee presented a number of proposals for the improvement of the textbook adoption system, from three angles: (l) enhancing textbook research by professional researchers; (2) ensuring Justice and equity in the adoption of textbooks; and (3) making textbook adoption open. In response to this report, the Ministry has amended the relevant regulations so as to lengthen the interval of textbook adoption (from three to four years), and distributed guidance circulars among all the prefecture boards of education with regard to the improvement of the mechanisms and procedures for textbook adoption.

Since 1963 all children enrolled in compulsory schools have been provided with free textbooks for all school subjects.