Musanze school gets digital books

Musanze–based Sonrise High School, yesterday, received a total of 420 hand-held digital readers known as nooks worth approximately Rwf20 million.The equipment was donated by Barnes and Noble bookstore, the largest book retailer in the United States, through the Liberty Media Corporation (LMC), an American media conglomerate.While handing over the gadgets to the students, Mark Carleton, the Senior Vice President of LMC, noted that it was vital for students to access reading material.“It is a cultural practice that students must be exposed to reading material as much as possible if they are to excel. This is our vision here,” Carleton said as he demonstrated how the gadgets operate.He pointed out that the mobile devices enable one to access reading material in digital content without necessarily subscribing to the internet. Each of them has an inbuilt capacity to store up to 1,000 books.Most students admit their academic performance has improved because it is possible to access books that cover a wide range of the curriculum.Leila Karangwa, a Senior Six student, said the hand held device enables her to access more information.“There is a time when you encounter a strange word whose meaning you don’t know and, amazingly, you can be able to use the gadget’s dictionary.” In an interview with The New Times, the school’s head teacher, Jean Pierre Rurangwa, said the donation was timely. “Hardcopy books are phasing out and, in fact, we even don’t have enough in our library. This development comes at a time when we needed it most.” He said a digitalised library would lead to better information access thus enabling students learn and carry out research leading to high quality education.

National

Musanze school gets digital books