HONG KONG - The long-running dispute between the government and school textbook publishers over the bundling of teaching aids - such as teaching manuals and CD-ROMs - with textbooks intensified at a meeting on Wednesday.

Publishers rejected a government call to revise prices by yesterday, and said they will charge for basic teaching materials. The government wants free teachers' manuals and schools fear they will be asked to pay. Education sector legislator Cheung Man-kwong says schools should try to reuse textbooks.