Peter "Just Loves Flying"

Now is the time to tackle the schoolbook publishing industry.

“The development of the ebook sector offers the Department an opportunity to reshape the field, so that it works for the student, parent and school instead of for the publishing industry. I believe that we should demand clarity now from ebook publishers around how they plan to handle edits and reissues, and the pricing of ebooks generally…”

“Now is the time for the Department of Education to rethink the way classroom material is compiled, published, updated, priced and paid for. The sector is changing. We have to power now to change it for the better. Let’s not just drift into the next chapter and spend another generation complaining about it.”

Newspaper initiative to improve literacy.

AN INITIATIVE to give transition year students a better idea of how newspapers work and to improve literacy will begin on Monday.  The Press Pass scheme will see free national and regional newspapers distributed to 14,000 students in 250 schools over a fortnight.  They will be accompanied by a workbook.

The idea “should help to improve literacy standards for those students taking part” because of the “strong yet practical focus on reading and writing”, Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn said yesterday.

The initiative by National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) is in conjunction with the Department of Education.