What would a school without textbooks be like?
Clearwater Secondary School and Raft River Elementary School are about to find out - or at least get some indication.
School District 73 recently approved giving the schools up to $18,000 to purchase tablet computers, said CSS principal Alan Stel.
The money will be in addition to a $10,000 commitment made by Clearwater Rotary Club some time ago.
The Rotary commitment was originally intended for a literacy program using tablet computers that would involve seniors working with elementary school students, said Stel.
After investigating it some more, however, staff at the two local schools decided to expand the program to include more and/or more powerful tablets.
The goal now is to purchase enough iPad or Android tablet computers to equip one and possibly two classes, said Stel.
Only two schools in the school district, South Kamloops Secondary and Bert Edwards Science and Technology School, presently have tablet computers for their students, according to RRS principal Mike Bowden.
However, a number of schools in the United States are going to using electronic readers and away from traditional textbooks, he said.
"It's more efficient and less expensive than buying textbooks, plus if there's an update, there's no need to replace the entire book," said Bowden. "It's pretty exciting. It is a bit of the future."
The tablet computers are just one example of high technology at the school, said the principal.
Recently Raft River Elementary received its own fibre-optic connection.
The school district also has agreed to update its computer lab to make it the most up-to-date in the district.
All students are involved in some way, Bowden said. He gave as an example the Kindergarten class, which completed its own three-minute video before Christmas about school behavior.