Public school students in seventh and eighth grade will start using digital textbooks after receiving training set to begin this month, Education and Culture Minister Myron Walwyn announced Thursday.
The textbooks’ content can be accessed offline, but by connecting them to the internet teachers can create digital question banks, test students, and generate instant results and analytics, according to government.
The digital books are authored by the India-based company FortunaPIX in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Culture and include curricula for mathematics, English, social studies, physical education, science and Spanish, government stated.
FortunaPix will monitor the textbooks with the help of the Department of Information Technology and the MEC’s ICT Unit.
Mr. Walwyn said that the textbooks themselves will be free but there will be an annual fee of $125 for the use of the devices and the other technological materials that go with them.
Parents will be required to sign a contract on receipt of a digital textbook.
Older students will not use the devices.
“Hard-copied textbooks for students in grade nine are now available for purchase at Island Services, and there are no issues surrounding textbooks for grades 10 through 12 as the same textbooks are used for the senior programme,” Mr. Walwyn said.
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