President
Barack Obama will go to a public library in one of Washington's poorest
neighborhoods on Thursday to talk about a plan to give low-income
children access to 10,000 e-books.
Working with publishers
and libraries, the White House sees the modest plan as part of a
strategy to address inner city problems by increasing educational
opportunities for kids -- woes brought into focus with recent riots in
nearby Baltimore.
Kids will need computers and devices to read the e-books. Jeff Zients, Obama's top economic adviser, noted the White House had previously announced programs to upgrade Internet services for
schools and libraries, with private sector help from companies
including Apple, which pledged $100 million in devices to low-income
schools.
"If we're serious about
living up to what our country is about, then we have to consider what we
can do to provide opportunities in every community, not just when
they're on the front page, but every day," Zients said in a briefing
with reporters.
The plan includes $250 million in e-book commitments from
publishers, including from the five major publishing houses: Macmillan,
Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, and
HarperCollins.
IN-DEPTH
- Classroom 2.0: Can Teachers Take Advantage of the Ed-Tech Boom?
- Los Angeles Schools Want Refund for Failed iPad Program
- Video: Classrooms on the Cutting Edge
--- Reuters
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