The Ministry of Education was one of the Alliance to Restore the Republic's Ministries. It had two mandates; it served as the Alliance Civil Government's intelligence branch, and was the Alliance's propaganda arm. Despite its name, the Ministry of Education had no hand in actual educational matters amongst the Alliance; that was left to the individual governments.
The intelligence branch was known as Civil Intelligence. Focusing on passive intelligence-gathering, operatives of Civil Intelligence monitored Imperial broadcasts, and other media. Civil Intelligence maintained liaison officers with the various throughout the galaxy to ensure that the Civil Government was kept informed at all times. Civil Intelligence was also responsible for monitoring the Civil Government in case of attempts by the Galactic Empire to infiltrate the organization.
The Propaganda Bureau was responsible for presenting the true face of the Alliance to the citizens of the galaxy. Countering Imperial propaganda was the Bureau's main responsibility, as well as disseminating 20,000 holo-tapes of the destruction of the first Death Star over Yavin 4.