As a part of President Francois Hollande’s digital plan for schools, he has set as a target for all middle school aged kids (‘5eme in France’) to be equipped with a tablet at the start of the 2015/2016 school year. This would equate to approximately 45k students who would use the tablet to “improve students’ access to information and (by default) improve the quality of course materials”.
One of the requirements is, of course, that the tablets come from a French manufacturer. Archos is, naturally, well-positioned to be chosen as the lucky supplier and, as a result, has announced that starting in 2015 that they would launch a range of tablets designed for middle school aged children which would “give them access to digital technology and give them the best chance of succeeding in the career fields of tomorrow.”
This is not Archos’ first foray into the education sector as they already deliver education solutions to state training agency (CFA), Sciences PO, as well as other universities in France. However, the tablets they’re developing for France digital initiative will respond to the specific needs of middle school-aged kids, including battery life up to 8 hours, 3-yr guarantee, expanded memory to hold equivalent content of schoolbooks, and robust design and case that can withstand a few, inevitable drops.