With first digital school book launched, Romanian education system prepares for online platform for books and future digital classrooms

Romanian students could benefit from using an online library towards the end of this year, should the hopes recently expressed by Romania's Education Minister become reality and the Romanian school system steps into the digital era. Education Minister Remus Pricopie said he hopes a platform for digital school books will be launched this fall, on manuale.edu.ro. “This would be useful not only to children in Romanian schools, but to teachers as well, who will be able to better choose their educational tools, and to parents who work with their children, and even to parents and children who do not live in Romania but who would like to follow an education using the Romanian curriculum,” said the Minister at the launch of the first online school book approved by the Education Ministry.

The book is called Lectia Verde – the Green lesson, and can be downloaded either as pdf or as an iOS app from lectiaverde.ro. It is an interactive ecology course for children aged 8 to 13, created at the initiative of cement producer Holcim Romania, in partnership with Romania's Education Ministry. This is an optional subject for Romanian students. In five to ten years, class rooms in Romania will be digitized, which is a much needed step, considering children are already always in contact with the digital world. In Poland, the digital school books have become pilot projects in several schools, and Romania's Education Minister hopes to develop on the same path and use EU structural funds for this between 2014 and 2020. editor@romania-insider.com