Romanian education system braces itself for digital future: new digital and online books to be rolled out next year

Learning promises to become fun, or at least more modern in Romania once new digital versions of school books are introduced, with a target set for the school year 2014-2015. Then the country will introduce new books which will also have interactive, digital versions, as well as online versions. The Romanian Ministry of Education recently put the project to evaluate, approve, acquire and manage school books for the pre-university level under public debate. Students will receive the printed and digital version on a CD of the book at the beginning of the school year, and the online version will be available on the platform www.manuale.edu.ro. Until then, a pilot program will be introduced for the first grade, which will get digital school books in the school year 2013 – 2014. The digital version of a school book has to enhance the printed one with interactive multimedia activities in order to qualify, and can also be used as a copy book, for students to take notes or save personal papers. The projects submitted for the Education Ministry's approval will receive marks based on quality criteria, and in order to be approved, a project needs 57 marks out of a maximum of 70. The new books will be created and rolled out in stages, starting in the school year 2013/2014, and ending in 2017/2018. Pilot books for the first grade for maths, Romanian language, Environment exploration and Maternal language communication will be delivered for the school year 2013/2014. Projects can be submitted between June 1 and October 1 this year, and evaluated by the Ministry by October 15. Final results will be given on October 25, and until November 5, schools will start acquiring the new books. Students will finally get them in the beginning of December. Based on feedback from students and teachers, improvements will be made. In August 2013, procedures for acquiring digital school books for the second grade will also start, and the first orders for such books should be made in June 2014. In the school year 2014/2015, new digital books will be created for the first, second, fourth and ninth grades, and in 2015/2016 for the third, fourth, sixth and tenth grades, while for the seventh and eleventh grades, in 2016/207, and for the eight and twelfth grades, in 2017/2018. 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 a 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.