Education Suppliers in Singapore

The textbook industry in Singapore was opened up to increased competition in the 1990s, under a syllabus network put forward by the Ministry of Education (MOE). Publishers were able to allow their authors to write their own textbooks and also to sell directly to the schools, due to the reduction of government red tape. This liberalisation process led to a huge amount of competition and consequently led to mergers between existing firms. One example that illustrates these changes is that of Panpac Education, which went from being the only educational publisher endorsed by the MOE, to having to merge as SNP Panpac in order to handle the competition.