iPad consigns schoolbooks to history lessons

ST COLEMAN’S College in Mayo will soon be a school without books. But before parents start banging down the door of the Education Minister in protest, the school is replacing them with iPads.

The hardware will be phased in from September, with all 90 first-year students being given the option of using the Apple tablet instead of a bag full of school books.

Each iPad will be furnished with learning apps, at an estimated cost of €700 for the full package. With the price spread across a three-year period, the value for money cannot be ignored said school principal Jimmy Finn.