Parents are still struggling to buy complete sets of textbooks for their children, who started the new school year on Friday, with bookshops finding it difficult to keep pace with demand.
Shek Hon-kei, in charge of the Hon Wing Book Company, attributed the difficulty in buying textbooks to revision of the syllabuses in six secondary school subjects.
'The number of subjects with revised syllabuses is bigger than previous years,' he said. 'In past years, most of the textbooks were ready in early August. But this year most textbooks have not been available until the end of last month.' Hon Wing is one of the biggest stores selling textbooks.
Courses in integrated science, history, Chinese history, geography, computer studies and arts in junior classes have been revised this academic year.
Some textbooks in arts and computer science and study papers for integrated science in lower forms are still unavailable.
Modern Educational Research Society publishing controller Chris Kwong Chi-hung said a delay by the Education Department in approving textbook drafts this year might have made it difficult for publishing houses to market new books before the start of the new school year.
