Why do schools still print thousands of textbooks annually?

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Schools still print thousands of textbooks annually because most schools use e-textbooks as supplementary or optional resources rather than replacing the physical books.

Malaysia’s main government digital textbook initiative, DELIMa (Digital Education Learning Initiative Malaysia), provides access to hundreds of digital textbooks plus interactive modules, videos, and tools from partners such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple. However, for most primary and secondary schools, DELIMa functions as supplementary or optional material, so students still bring physical school books to class almost every day. In that context, the system continues to require new printed copies, and the article also highlights that thousands of new versions are printed each year and discarded after final exams.
DELIMa is not a full replacement for printed textbooks in most schools
DELIMa is described as the Ministry of Education’s main digital learning portal, rebranded from earlier MOE Digital Learning efforts post-Frog VLE. It offers hundreds of digital textbooks along with interactive modules, videos, and partner tools, but the platform is characterised as supplementary or optional for most schools. As a result, physical textbooks remain a routine part of daily attendance for students in national schools.
Printed books are repeatedly updated and then discarded after exams
The article points to a pattern of “thousands and thousands” of new copies being printed year after year for the same textbooks, followed by disposal after the final exam. It frames this as serious wastage, with the costs treated as an externality borne by society beyond the book-selling segment. This cycle is presented as an ongoing feature of the current approach rather than a one-off event.
Private schools have moved away, but public schools have not clearly done so
The text notes that some private schools have already dropped physical textbooks, indicating that a switch is possible within parts of the school sector. It then raises the question of when public schools will follow suit, implying that broad adoption of e-textbooks has not yet materialised across national schools. Outside of DELIMa, it also states there is no shown evidence of schools fully adopting e-textbooks through policy or on-the-ground implementation.
The article links the preference to a slower transition to digital learning
The discussion compares a preference for physical textbooks to staying in an older information era, contrasting Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikipedia. It also notes that AI may transform education “very, very soon,” while questioning why e-textbooks still feel like a “far future” option. Within the article’s framing, this slower transition helps explain why large-scale printing continues rather than digital materials replacing printed books.

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Why do schools still print thousands of textbooks annually?

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