Not enough content is available for flexible tablet computers that millions of Russian students will use in the near future.
Yesterday Vladimir Putin met at his Novo-Ogaryovo residence with Rusnano CEO Anatoly Chubais. Before the start of the new school year the Rusnano head decided to demonstrate the recent innovations in education to the prime minister. Starting from September 1, schools in several Russian regions will receive a single electronic textbook instead of the usual set of textbooks under a pilot programme. The whole curriculum can be downloaded to such an electronic textbook.
"As I reported earlier, we are currently working on a new type of electronic product, which is made of plastic rather than silicon," Chubais told Putin, handing him the electronic textbook.
The computer in Putin's hands resembled a usual tablet computer except that it was flexible. The prime minister turned it in his hands and touched the screen.
"Look, I've come to the right place," Putin said and read out the text on the screen. "Pancakes turned out flatter and fatter with our Mardi Gras batter..."
"This seems to be an excerpt from a literature textbook," commented Chubais. He explained that the computer Putin was holding included an entire set of textbooks on every subject in the school curriculum through the 6th grade.
Making schoolbags less heavy with just one electronic textbook will cost 12,000 roubles. The computer is completely safe and cannot be damaged even if used as a weapon in a fight, assured Chubais. It has no glass shield on its screen, so it will not break.
By September 1 schools will be equipped with 1,000 such devices. If the device is a success, Plastic Logic, which produces flexible electronic textbooks, will receive a big government contract as Russian schools across the country have fourteen million students.
So far Plastic Logic has a contract with Rusnano. The state corporation is investing $700 million in building a plant in Zelenograd that will manufacture plastic displays.
But Chubais' electronic textbooks have competitors. Minister of Education and Science Andrei Fursenko told Izvestia that electronic textbooks produced by other companies are already being used in a number of regions, for example in St Petersburg and Tatarstan.
"However, there are problems with content for these electronic textbooks," Fursenko told Izvestia. "Besides, we should conduct a medical study of the effect the electronic devices may have on health. No device has been tested yet."
Fursenko stressed that the idea of using such devices makes sense, as they are already widely used in the United States and Japan instead of books.
Anastasia Novikova
