Textbooks and Educational Culture

Textbooks and Educational Culture Krishna Kumar TEXTBOOKS are universally used but they do not mean the same thing in different countries. Their practical use in the school's daily routine and their symbolic function vary from one educational system to the next. In some countries, textbooks are published only by private publishers; in others, only by the government. In certain countries, state authorities merely recommend suitable textbooks, leaving school authorities and teachers free to select the ones they like; in others, specific textbooks are prescribed by the state, and no deviation is expected or allowed. In some countries, textbooks are purchased by the school and provided to children in the classrooms; in others, it is the children who must buy their own copies of the prescribed textbooks and carry them every morning to the school in a capacious schoolbag.