 放大圖片
■本港教科書市場被幾間大型出版社壟斷，令書價居高不下。資料圖片
The government should intervene as publishers break their promise
兩大教科書商會9日與教育局局長孫明揚就課本分拆及教師用書定價問題會面，但談判破裂，商會成員隨即轉到申訴專員公署投訴當局行政失當。孫明揚反駁指，書商不合理地調高教師用書定價，間接向政府索取資源「埋單」，做法不能接受。
分拆課本原意是降低教科書價格，但最終卻導致教師用書定價大幅提高，變相以公帑補貼書商，做法明顯與原來協議相違。其實自2009年起，教科書書商與教育局一直就課本和教材分拆定價問題拉鋸。經過多番交涉，書商終於同意落實課本分拆，但最終分拆後的教師用書，定價竟較學生課本貴1倍至3倍，分拆減價名不符實。教育局提出容許學校免費索取教師用書，正是對書商不守承諾的一種反制。
當局想方設法最終也難以降低書價，一方面是因為本港700萬人口的彈丸之地，但教科書出版社卻有十多個，每個書商所能分到的市場份額便很小，難以發揮規模效應，令出版成本高昂；另一方面，雖然市場規模小，但市場卻被幾間大型出版社壟斷，令書價居高不下。書商和政府的矛盾，在教科書市場扭曲下形成死結，單靠談判難以破解僵局。
Two main textbook publisher associations met with the Secretary for Education Mr. Michael Suen Ming-yeung on 9 May to discuss issues relating to debundling of textbooks and pricing of teaching materials. The discussion broke down and members of the associations immediately turned to the Office of the Ombudsman to complain about the maladministration of the government. Mr. Suen rebuked by pointing out that publishers have unreasonably marked up prices of teaching materials, which is indirectly tapping government resources to pay for the costs; such practice, he said, is unacceptable.
Debundling of textbooks was initially meant to reduce the prices of textbooks. Nonetheless, it has eventually caused a substantial rise in the prices of teacher manuals, and in effect becomes a way of subsidizing publishers with public fund. Obviously this violates the original agreement. In fact, textbook publishers and the Education Bureau have been engaging in a tug-of-war since 2009 on the issue of debundling textbooks and teaching materials for pricing. After a series of negotiations, the publishers finally agreed to implement textbook debundling. However, the debundled teacher manuals have turned out to be up to three times more expensive than the student textbooks. Debundling textbooks and teaching materials as a means to reduce price has become an empty promise. The Education Bureau's suggestion that schools should be allowed to obtain teacher manuals free of charge is actually a response to counter the nonperformance of the publishers.
Despite all the efforts, the authorities have not been able to lower the prices of textbooks. One of the reasons is that as there are more than a dozen textbook publishers in Hong Kong, a small city of 7 million people, the market share enjoyed by each publisher is relatively small. Publishers can hardly achieve an economy of scale, and this pushes up the costs of production and publication. Another reason is that this relatively small market is dominated by a few large-sized publishers. This is why the prices of textbooks stand at a constantly high level. In a distorted textbook market like this, the conflict between the publishers and the government has ended in deadlock, and it is unlikely that negotiation alone can make any breakthroughs.
■Translation by 東明 tungming23@gmail.com
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