WE REFER to Ms Chan Pui Yee's letter 'Wastage in 'required' school textbooks' on Wednesday, which raised concerns about frequent changes in school textbooks.

The Ministry of Education reviews the syllabuses for all subjects every six years to ensure that the contents remain current. Principals, teachers and students play an important role in these reviews, as their feedback and suggestions are taken into account in the redevelopment of syllabuses.

Changes resulting from these reviews will then be incorporated into the textbooks. Where changes are minor, MOE will work with the publishers to ensure that the amendments are communicated to the schools so that the textbooks continue to be usable.

MOE makes every effort to ensure that children will not lack the basic resources in their school education. Hence, we will continue to ensure that schools render the fullest support to needy students to purchase their school books. We thank Ms Chan for her feedback.

Low Khah Gek (Madam)
Director, Curriculum Planning & Development
Ministry of Education

This article was first published in The Straits Times on January 06, 2009.