Korea to Abandon Printed Textbooks by 2015
July 8th, 2011 by Jo Borrás
In a bold move, South Korea’s ministry of education recently announced plans to remove printed textbooks from Korea’s schools by the year 2015. Called “Smart Education”, the plan calls for the creation of a dedicated cloud network – which will host digital copies of the students’ required reading and lessons – that can be accessed through “any” Internet-connected device, from low-power netbooks to tablets to (presumably) Android-powered washing machines, which will be provided to students’ families if they are unable to afford them (the netbooks, not the appliances).
The ministry’s office also has plans for online classes which will allow students who are ill or otherwise unable to attend school physically to”keep up” with their classmates, and also make adult and remedial education more easily accessible.
In addition to being a fantastic move from a conservationist standpoint (Seriously, how many millions of pounds of wood and paper are turned into textbooks every year? How many gallons of gas go into transporting those heavy books every year? I bet it’s a lot!), Korea’s plan will also provide a significant boost to the country’s private IT sector, requiring thousands of employee contractors to wire up schools, homes, and public spaces in preparation for the 2015 cut-off.
The head of the ministry believes these moves will help keep Korea’s students (who already scored “on top” in terms of internet and computer “literacy” compared to students sampled from 19 countries) ahead of the curve. “That’s why Korean students, who are already fully prepared for digital society, need a paradigm shift in education,” he said to the Jakarta Globe, while also expressing his belief that the plan to digitize schools will actually save his government money over the long term (!).
Let’s hope the multi-level wisdom being employed here by South Korea gets “picked up” by other countries in the near future – the trees, at least, will be thrilled!
Source: Jakarta Globe, via Gizmag.
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About the Author
Jo Borrás I've been involved in motorsports and tuning since 1997, and write for a number of blogs in the Important Media network. You can find me on Twitter, Skype (jo.borras) or Google+.
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