Paperless pupils

The fusty aroma of old textbooks may take you back to your school years, but children starting school after 2015 in South Korean are more likely to recall of an overheating tablet computer.

That’s because the education ministry intends to transform schools into paperless digital operations by then, according to Korean news site The Chosun Ilbo.

Under its Smart Education programme, announced on 1July, the ministry is to spend 2.2 trillion Won ($2billion) digitizing all elementary and secondary’s in school textbooks currently in use so they can be read on a variety of devices, including computers, interactive whiteboards, iPad-like tablets and Smartphone.

Classes will also be video-streamed online so children who can’t come in due to poor health or weather don’t miss out.

Children with disabilities may also benefit: e-books could be controlled by-tracking or gesture recognition, for example.

“E-textbooks and video-streaming classes will stop children who can’t come to school form missing out”

Source: New Scientist, 9 July, 2011